Pussy Riot Classified as “Extremist Organization” by Russian Ministry of Justice
The art-activist collective is now officially banned and labeled a threat to national security in Russia.
Summary
- Russia designated Pussy Riot an “extremist organization” on December 15, 2025, banning all activities
- Nadya Tolokonnikova remains defiant as the ruling threatens supporters with prison for possessing group iconography
- The group’s influential art, including Punk Prayer, continues despite state suppression
Russia’s Ministry of Justice formally designated the art‑activist collective Pussy Riot an “extremist organization” on December 15, 2025, following a ruling by Moscow’s Tverskoy District Court. Presided over by Judge Maria Moskalenko, the ruling effectively bans all activities of the collective within Russia, recasting the protest group as a threat to national security. This designation follows a long history between the judge and the collective; in 2011, Moskalenko imprisoned Pussy Riot ally Peter Verzilov along with opposition figures Ilya Yashin and Alexei Navalny, who famously criticized her from their cell with a sign reading, “JUDGE MOSKALENKO SERVES SATAN.”
Founder Nadya Tolokonnikova, currently in exile and describing herself as “geographically anonymous,” responded to the verdict with defiance, stating that “in today’s Russia, telling the truth is extremism”. The ruling carries severe consequences for supporters, as owning a signature balaclava, possessing a Pussy Riot song, or “liking” a social media post could now result in prison time. This latest escalation follows the September 2025 sentencing in absentia of five members, including Maria Alyokhina and Taso Pletner, to lengthy prison terms ranging from eight to thirteen years for spreading “false information” about the Russian military.
The collective’s transition from punk protesters to global art icons is highlighted by several notable works that have frequently provoked the Kremlin’s ire. The 2012 “Punk Prayer” performance in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour remains a seminal work, named by The Guardian as one of the best art pieces of the 21st century. More recently, Tolokonnikova’s 2023 installation, Putin’s Ashes, at the Jeffrey Deitch Gallery — which featured bottled ashes of a burned 10-foot portrait of the president, propelled her onto Russia’s most wanted list. Most recently, her durational performance installation “POLICE STATE” debuted at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago in late 2025, transforming the theater into a claustrophobic, monitored cell to confront the brutality of unrelenting state control.
