The Russian security service persecuted Pussy Riot

Russia's security service FSB forced the former Pussy Riot activist into a surveillance role for three years. Pussy Riot is a Russian feminist punk band and activist group that opposes political oppression, the Russian government, and patriarchy. Rita Flores fled Russia at the end of August. Now in her first interview after her escape, she tells the British newspaper The Guardian what the FSB wanted from her. She was forced to gather information on other Kremlin-critical activists. Flores was recruited in February 2023 after an Instagram post criticizing the Russian invasion. She tells The Guardian that the FSB threatened her with imprisonment and the murder of her mother. – It was too much. I was so worried about my family and myself, he says. Flores reported that she immediately recruited about 20 people, but not those she was supposed to report on. Instead, she says she tried to make them trust her so they wouldn't tell her too much information. Flores fled Russia with the help of lawyer Dmitri Zakhmatov in August. Flores believes that recruitment in activist circles is a mass phenomenon. She now wants to help others escape. – For the first time in years I feel calm, he says to The Guardian. Flores is also known by the name Margarita Konovalova. She has been convicted of several prison sentences for her actions in Pussy Riot.