Pussy Riot star Nadya Tolokonnikova has said “greed” and “stupidity” are the two key reasons for why the world has been complacent about Vladimir Putin in recent years.
The Russian artist – who spent two years in a Siberian jail for singing an anti-Putin “punk prayer” – made the comments in relation to the invasion of Ukraine.
“I’m in a panic, I’m crying every day,” she said of the conflict. “I don’t think it was in any sense necessary, I don’t think it was in any sense logical. It wasn’t something that had to happen, it’s a disaster that will end thousands of people’s lives.”
Referring to Russian oligarchs and their work in Europe and the US, she told The Guardian: “The global community was extremely complacent, and I see two reasons: hypocrisy, based on greed.
“People would make statements that they did not support Putin’s politics, and his oppression of the political opposition, and the wars that he started… But at the same time they would continue doing business with him.”
She said the second reason is “stupidity”, adding: “People underestimate how dangerous dictators are. In 2014, we spoke to the UK parliament, we spoke at the Senate in the US, we were asked by a lot of people how they should talk to Putin, how they should frame the conversation, and I always advised that they should be as strict as they could.
“You cannot play nice with Putin.”
Tolokonnikova founded feminist band Pussy Riot in 2011. She and two other members of the band were prosecuted for singing “Punk Prayer: Mother of God, Drive Putin Away” in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in 2012.
They were sentenced to two years in prison for hooliganism in 2012 and separated from their young children. The musicians went on hunger strike and were named prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International.
Tolokonnikova has now used an NFT of Ukraine’s flag to raise more than $7.1m for the country’s defences.
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