Festival of Pussy Riot

The all-female punk protest band Pussy Riot released a new video on Thursday September 6, 2012 in which they thanked fellow musicians for their support and burned a huge image of President Vladimir V. Putin.

Three members of the group were sentenced to two-year prison terms last month for an anti-Putin performance in a Moscow cathedral in February, on the eve of the presidential election that returned Mr. Putin to office. MORE HERE

A music festival to support jailed members of the Russian band Pussy Riot went forward despite official pressure to cancel it. About 1,000 people attended the “Free Pussy Riot Fest” headlined by the Russian rock protest bands DDT and Televizor, whose songs have long riled Soviet authorities and Putin’s Kremlin. MORE HERE

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church used a packed Sunday prayer service and a state TV interview to press his case that the church he presides over is under attack from foes he said wanted to mock and destroy its places of worship. Patriarch Kirill did not mention punk music group Pussy Riot by name but was clearly referring to the collective. MORE HERE