Video - New video from Pussy riot, Topic: corruption in Putin 's Russia. (English subtitled).

Video - Members of the punk band Pussy Riot beaten with horsewhips for trying to perform in Sochi.

Video footage shows five members of the Russian group, dressed in their signature bright colours and head masks, attempting to perform a song under a sign advertising the Sochi games.

At least 10 Cossacks are seen quickly approaching and firing pepper spray at the band members.

When they continue to sing and dance, the Cossacks use horsewhips to strike several of the women and one male supporter.Some were violently unmasked and led away.

Cossacks, who are neither members of the police or the military, have been employed by Russia to maintain order and help patrol the streets in the Krasnodar province, where Sochi is located.The Cossack patrolmen have made no comment on Wednesday's incident.Hmmmm......New definition of 'Pussy whipped'Read and see the full story here.

Video - Released Pussy Riot Nadezhda Tolokonnikova interview . 'We are all prisoners in Russia'

Video - Released Pussy Riot Nadezhda Tolokonnikova interview. 'We are all prisoners in Russia'.(Telegraph).

Two members of the girl punk band Pussy Riot were released from Russian jails yesterday defiantly warning Western government's not to be taken in by President Vladamir Putin's prison amnesty claiming it was effort to whitewash the Kremlin's human rights record ahead of the Sochi Winter Olympics.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina were set free from separate prisons after serving 21 months in custody following a deliberately provocative punk performance in Moscow's main cathedral in February 2012.

An amnesty — which saw the release of 22,000 people convicted of or charged with non-violent crime — meant their two-year sentence for “hooliganism” was cut by just three months.

It follows the separate pardoning of Russia's most famous prisoner, the tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who did not qualify for the general amnesty.

Speaking to the Telegraph moments after she walked out of a prison hospital in the city of Krasnoyarsk, Miss Tolokonnikova, 24, lashed out at the spectacle of the amnesty echoing her band mates ascetion that it was a "profanity".

"For me it is obvious that the amnesty is PR aimed at the press, and primarily at western audiences and western governments. Putin wants to say to them "look how good everything is, come to the Olympics. I let people out two months early; true, they tried to kill them in prison, but now they've been let go – after everything we did to them.'"

"It's funny, but it wouldn't be funny at all to people who really need it. They should be amnestied – we don't need it.Read the full story here.

Russian human rights commissioner Vladimir Lukin: "Pussy Riot's Tolokonnikova still en route to new jail."

Russian human rights commissioner Vladimir Lukin: "Pussy Riot's Tolokonnikova still en route to new jail." (RBTH).

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, one of the convicted performers of the feminist punk group Pussy Riot, who is currently being transported to a new penitentiary, is feeling well and eating properly, Russian human rights commissioner Vladimir Lukin told Interfax on Tuesday.

"Acting at the request of several human rights campaigners, I got in touch with the administration of the Federal Penitentiary Institutions Service and asked them about convict Tolokonnikova. I was told that she is fine and she is still on her way to one of the penitentiaries where she will continue to serve her sentence," Lukin said.

"Tolokonnikova is traveling in a separate compartment for security reasons. She is held in a separate cell during stopovers," he said.
"She is being accompanied by a doctor. She is eating properly and is said to be in satisfactory condition," he said.

Lawyers and relatives are currently unable to visit Tolokonnikova because it is prohibited by the law, Lukin said.
"Under the law, as soon as she [Tolokonnikova] arrives at the penitentiary, her legal team and family will be notified of it," he said.
According to the Federal Penitentiary Institutions Service, Tolokonnikova is expected to arrive at her new penal colony fairly soon.

Russian Duma Mulls Religious Offense Bill after attacks on Orthodox Christian sites.

The draft law also comes after four wooden crosses were chopped down in Russia’s regions last month 

Russian Duma Mulls Religious Offense Bill after attacks on Orthodox Christian sites.(RN).
Russia's parliament is considering amendments to the country's criminal code, under which causing religious offense will be a crime punishable by measures ranging from a one-off fine to five years behind bars. The initiative has so far found broad cross-party support in parliament, Yaroslav Nilov from the Liberal Democrat Party of Russia (LDPR) told journalists on Wednesday. "The LDPR worked with all the other parliamentary parties and a member of the Federation Council to prepare the draft law, and now the draft law on tightening responsibility for causing religious offense has been submitted" he said. Sergei Obukhov of Russia’s Communist Party, told RIA Novosti his party supports the draft law and said he hopes that it will come onto the statute book this session. “The state has a duty to protect the rights of its citizens to their religious views. Antireligious campaigns risk destabilizing society, and in the interests of public order, peace, and security there is a real need to toughen punishment for causing religious offence” Obukhov said. The Chair of the Duma Committee on Security and Anticorruption Measures, Irina Yarovaya, also backed the draft law, claiming offending religious sensibilities presents a very real danger to society as a whole, not just to the individual offended, because this "creates an atmosphere of conflict and mistrust." "Believers not only value what they themselves hold holy, but also the confidence that they have in the state's protection," she added.Read the full story here.

Related: Over 80% of Russians Favor ‘Blasphemy’ Draft Law - Survey.

Video - "OctoPussy" - Putin Strokes Octopus in Vladivostok Oceanarium.

"OctoPussy" -  Vladimir Putin visited the oceanarium on Russky Island. Watch this video to see the President trying to stroke one of the eight legged inhabitants there.

Putin discusses Pussy Riot and group sex in TV interview.

Putin discusses Pussy Riot and group sex in TV interview.(MN).President Vladimir Putin has given his first TV interview after his inauguration, discussing Pussy Riot, group sex and Russian-U.S. relations. Putin said he would not comment on the Pussy Riot sentence, and said he did not follow the career of the women imprisoned for two years for singing a song called, “Mother of God, Drive Putin Away” in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior. However, he went on to discuss their previous stunts. When the reporter said that pussy can be translated as cat, Putin said that he “understands everything” and asked the interviewer “not to pretend that you do not understand anything.”
Putin remembered their stunt in a Moscow supermarket called “Execution of Jews, Gastarbeiters and Faggots,” as well as their orgy in a museum.
 At this point, Putin commented on the merits of group sex: “Some of the fans [of group sex] say that it is better than one-on-one, as there, as in any teamwork, it is possible to sit out.” Putin also said that Russia would work with any U.S. president, especially on a missile defense system in Europe.Read the full story here.

Russian TV interview suggests Pussy Riot member a permanent resident of Canada.

Russian TV interview suggests Pussy Riot member a permanent resident of Canada.(HP).OTTAWA—A jailed member of Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot might have immigrated to Canada prior to the political stunt involving masks and a cathedral that landed her behind bars. Nadezdha Tolokonnikova, 23, is the best known face of Pussy Riot, a punk group whose members have been in jail since February, when they stormed a cathedral in Moscow wearing summer dresses, tights and colourful balaclavas, shouting a prayer to the Virgin Mary to deliver Russia from Vladimir Putin, who was set to win a third term as president the following month. An excerpt from a Russian state television newscast posted to YouTube suggests Tolokonnikova has a tie to Canada that is strong enough for her to have received a permanent resident card as recently as last year — something that only someone who is physically present in Canada and has met immigration requirements can obtain. 
“I’ve been to Canada and I have the right to visit it but I didn’t get a residency permit,” Tolokonnikova told Russian state television journalist Arkady Mamontov during the interview that aired in April.
Tolokonnikova said she went to Canada on a visa. “I don’t have a residency there and am not yet planning to leave Russia. I’ll wait and continue fighting for now,” Tolokonnikova says in the interview, according to a translation provided to the Star.The newscast then cuts to Moscow police investigator Artyom Ranchenkov showing an Ontario health insurance card and a permanent resident card allegedly belonging to Tolokonnikova. A close-up of the permanent resident card shows it expires on April 5, 2016, which suggests that Tolokonnikova either received or renewed the card in 2011, because they are valid for five years. Canadian government sources said the card depicted in the shot appears to be a real one. Tolokonnikova’s husband, Pyotr Verzilov, told the Washington Post in July that he got a Canadian passport after attending junior high school in Toronto.Pictures of his Canadian passport have been held up on Russian TV in an attempt to show that Verzilov, a street performer and activist, is trying to destroy Russia, the Post reported. Citizenship and Immigration Canada spokeswoman Nancy Caron said she could not speak specifically about the case of Tolokonnikova, but noted that permanent resident cards are not handed out to people visiting the country on a visa.Hmmmm......."Ooooooh Canada"?Read the full story here.

Topless Femen activist cuts down Christian cross in the Ukrainian capital Kiev in 'Pussy Riot' support.

Topless Femen activist cuts down Christian cross in the Ukrainian capital Kiev in 'Pussy Riot' support.(Reuters).The young woman staged her protest as a Russian court was due to deliver a verdict on three Pussy Riot members for performing a political "punk prayer" at the altar of Moscow's main cathedral - a case that has been criticized by free-speech advocates around the world. To show solidarity with the Pussy Riot defendants, Inna Shevchenko, a member of the Ukrainian group Femen which often stages bare-breasted shock performances, destroyed the four-meter high wooden cross bearing the figure of Christ. The cross, erected in 2005 on a hilltop looking down on the city centre, also served as a memorial to the victims of Stalinist repression and the famine of the 1930s. Two other activists used ropes to direct the fall of the cross. "No business, not even one as successful as the church, has the right to attack women's rights," Shevchenko, 22, a veteran of several Femen protests, said after bringing down the cross. A criminal case has been formally opened for hooliganism in connection with the incident, police spokesman Ihor Mykhalko said. The maximum sentence for the offence is four years in jail.Hmmmm.....Give her a 'work punishment' cut trees in the forest?Read the full story here.

Russian Activists to Sue Madonna for $10 Mln over Concert.

Russian Activists to Sue Madonna for $10 Mln over Concert.(RN).A group of Russian activists are preparing to file a $10.5 million lawsuit against U.S. pop diva Madonna over what they say was the “moral damage” caused during her recent concert in St. Petersburg. Activists from the Union of Russian Citizens, the People’s Assembly civil group and the New Great Russia Party will file the lawsuit with the Moscow District Court in St. Petersburg on Friday, a spokeswoman for the Union of Russian Citizens’ Moscow branch told RIA Novosti. “We demand that she pay for moral damage suffered by St. Petersburg residents as a result of her actions during the show on August 9,” Daria Dedova said. “We must defend our right to normal cultural life without propaganda of values and views that contradict the Russian culture,” she added.
Lawyer Alexander Pochuyev explained that the “moral damage” was a result of “psychological stress and emotional shock” experienced not only by those who attended Madonna’s show – during which he said the 53-year-old mother of four “trampled down” an Orthodox cross – but also by many internet users who have seen videos from the concert posted online and read news about the show.
 “While speaking of tolerance, she abuses the feelings of believers,” the lawyer said. Madonna should also bear responsibility for what his defenders believe was the “open promotion of homosexuality” during the concert, the lawyer said.
During her show at St. Peterburg’s largest concert hall, which was attended by 25,000 people, Madonna complained about a “growing intolerance” in the world and called for solidarity with gays and lesbians. She had pink armbands distributed in the audience and asked her fans to raise their hands in a sign of support for homosexuals.
Madonna also spoke out in support of all-female group Pussy Riot. Three members of the band could be jailed on Friday over a February protest in Moscow’s largest cathedral against Orthodox Church support for Vladimir Putin ahead of the March 4 presidential polls that returned him to the Kremlin for a third term. A group of activists from the St.Petersburg-based civil group Parental Control earlier asked police to probe Madonna’s actions, claiming that the concert was attended by children as young as 12 and accusing the singer of violating a local law prohibiting the promotion of homosexuality among minors. The activists have pledged to spend the money they hope to receive from Madonna on charity projects for children and families.Read the full story here.

Playboy Wants Pussy Riot for Centerfold

Playboy Wants Pussy Riot for Centerfold.(RN).Playboy magazine’s Ukrainian edition has offered a member of the Russian female punk band Pussy Riot, who is currently awaiting verdict in a trial in Moscow on hooliganism charges, to pose for its centerfold, Russian daily Izvestia reported on Wednesday. “Our readers are active users of social networks where Pussy Riot girls have been the main heroines of the past few months,” Playboy Ukraine’s editor-in-chief, Vlad Ivanenko, told the paper. “We consider Nadezhda Tolokonnikova an artist and believe that her appearance in a Playboy Ukraine centerfold would be well received by the audience,” he said, adding that his deputy “dreams of marrying Nadezhda.” Tolokonnikova, 22, along with two other Pussy Riot participants, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, are facing up to seven years in jail for performing a “punk prayer” in Moscow’s main cathedral in February, asking the Virgin Mary to “drive Putin out.”
The three women were arrested shortly afterwards and charged with hooliganism aimed at "inciting religious hatred." They have dismissed the charges, saying that their stunt was intended to highlight the close alliance between the Orthodox Church and the state in Russia. The verdict in the controversial trial, which has sparked heated debates in Russia and triggered strong criticism from Russian and international rights groups, is expected on Friday. Ivanenko said Playboy had already contacted Tolokonnikova’s defense to arrange a photo shoot if the court decides to free the women on Friday.Read the full story here.

Russian deputy PM Rogozin says Madonna tweet was not an insult.

  Russian deputy PM Rogozin with members of The far-right Union of Orthodox Banner -bearers.

Russian deputy PM Rogozin says Madonna tweet was not an insult.(HD).A Russian deputy prime minister has said he did not insult Madonna on Twitter ahead of her Saint Petersburg concert in which she spoke in defence of gay rights. The outspoken lawmaker, Dmitry Rogozin, tweeted a Russian abbreviation on Wednesday that was widely interpreted as an insult aimed at Madonna. In his tweet, Rogozin used the letter "b", which can sometimes refer to an offensive Russian word for "whore." "Every former b. seeks to lecture everyone on morality as she gets older. Especially during tours and gigs abroad," Rogozin tweeted. "Either take off your cross, or put on your knickers," he added.
After media outlets picked up the comments, the former NATO envoy said on Facebook on Thursday that he meant no offense and the abbreviation could refer to many things including "goddess" or "ballerina". "And they immediately linked my comments with the so-called 'Madonna' (goddamn her) even though I did not say a word about her." At her Saint Petersburg concert Thursday, Madonna spoke in support of the gay community in an often homophobic nation. She also irked authorities Tuesday when she called for the release of three members of all-girl punk band Pussy Riot, who are on trial for performing a song against President Vladimir Putin at a landmark Moscow church.Hmmmm......A deeply 'religious' man wouldn't use such words.....would he?Read the full story here.

Video - Pussy Riot Members Have Last Word before Sentence is Passed.

Members of the punk group Pussy Riot, charged with hooliganism in the Christ the Savior Cathedral, have had their final word in court. The final decision on their case will be made at 3 p.m. on August 17.

Video - Topless Femen Protester Attempts to Attack Russian Patriarch.

Topless Femen Protester Attempts to Attack Russian Patriarch.An activist of the Femen group of female Ukrainian protesters, with a flair for topless stunts, attempted to attack the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill as he arrived at Kiev’s airport on Thursday.Source: RN.

"Blasphemy?" - Russia's Pussy Riot Go On Hunger Strike After Court Ruling.

"Blasphemy?" - Russia's Pussy Riot Go On Hunger Strike After Court Ruling.(RN).Members of the all-female Russian punk group Pussy Riot - who face up to seven years behind bars over an anti-Putin protest - went on hunger strike on Wednesday after what their legal team said was a court ruling reminiscent of Stalin-era repression. “I am declaring a hunger strike, because this is unlawful,” suspect Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 23, told a packed Moscow courtroom after a judge had ruled to drastically reduce the time for the defense team to study case materials. The ruling obliges the defense to finish their study of the materials by July 9. Lawyers had asked to be given until September 1. Suspects Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 29, were detained in March after five masked members of Pussy Riot performed a song in Moscow’s largest cathedral against what they said was church support for Vladimir Putin’s presidential election campaign.. The song, entitled “Holy S**t,” featured the lyrics “Virgin Mary, drive Putin out!” and came amid unprecedented protests against the twelve-year rule of the former KGB officer. The suspects admit being part of the Pussy Riot group, but say they did not take part in the protest in the landmark Christ the Savior cathedral. Putin called the protest “unpleasant.” The group members have been charged with hooliganism as part of an organized group. Polozov told RIA Novosti during an interval in the hearing that he believed a trial would begin later this month and that the suspects could be jailed in August for “two or three years.” “If they were planning to free them, they would have released them on bail,” he said. While a number of figures within Russia’s influential Orthodox Church have expressed disquiet at the continued detention of the suspects, Church head Patriarch Kirill criticized in March those believers he said were seeking leniency for the group. And leading Church official Vsevolod Chaplin said last week that God had revealed to him his displeasure over the protest. “This sin will be punished in this life and the next,” Chaplin cited God as saying. Pussy Riot first hit the headlines in January, when they raced through a musical diatribe against Putin on a snowy Red Square, calling for “Revolt in Russia!” and chanting “Putin’s got scared” before being detained by police.Hmmmm......You don't attack the "Holy Mother Church" in Russia unpunished.Read the full story here.

"Vade Retro Satanas" - Russian Church Activists Disperse Pussy Riot Supporters with Holy Water.

                            "Church Activists."not to be confused with Russian bikers.

"Vade Retro Satanas" - Russian Church Activists Disperse Pussy Riot Supporters with Holy Water.(RN).Activists from a fundamentalist Russian Orthodox organization dispersed with Holy Water a group of protesters who gathered on Sunday in downtown Moscow near the Christ the Savior Cathedral to support jailed female Pussy Riot punk group. Several dozens of opposition activists gathered near the main Russia’s Orthodox Cathedral in Moscow for an unsanctioned rally in support of the members of the all-female punk group Pussy Riot who had been put in custody for performing a song against president-elect Vladimir Putin in the Cathedral in late February. The rally, a new episode of the anti-government protests that have spread across Russia since December, was designed to unite both believers and atheists in a mass prayer. Police however cordoned off the territory in front of the Cathedral and detained two organizers of the protest to avoid “provocations.” Members of the Union of Orthodox Banner Bearers calmed down other participants of the prayer by pouring Holy Water on them and chanting: “No Sodom!”
The Cathedral authorities refused to comment on the rally.Vandalism and church desecration cases have become more frequent in Russia after Pussy Riot performed what it called “a punk prayer” in February next to the Christ the Savior Cathedral’s main altar, which is off-limits to all but priests. Five group members, clad in balaclavas, chanted a song entitled “Holy Sh*t” against Putin that also contained lines such as “Holy Mother, Blessed Virgin, chase Putin out!” The girls said the performance was a response to Orthodox Church head Patriarch Kirill’s backing of President-elect Vladimir Putin in the run-up to his landslide March 4 election victory. The patriarch called the 12 years of Putin's rule a "miracle of God" in a televised meeting. Pussy Riot can face up to seven years in prison if found guilty on hooliganism charges.Hmmmm......."Господи Помилуй".Read the full story here.

God Waiting for Pussy Riot ‘Repentance’ – Russian Church Official.

God Waiting for Pussy Riot ‘Repentance’ – Russian Church Official.(RaiNovosti).God expects the all-female group Pussy Riot to repent for their anti-Putin “punk prayer” in Moscow’s largest cathedral, a leading Russian Orthodox official has said.
“They are no longer Orthodox Christians,” Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin said during a talk show on the website of the Snob magazine. “God has already judged them and is now waiting for their repentance.”
Five members of Pussy Riot, clad in brightly-colored balaclavas, performed an acapella version of what they said was a “punk prayer” entitled “Holy Sh*t at the altar of the Christ the Savior Cathedral in downtown Moscow on February 21. The lyrics included lines such as “Holy Mother, Blessed Virgin, chase Putin out!”
The group said the performance was a protest against powerful Orthodox Church head Patriarch Kirill’s support for Vladimir Putin in the run-up to the March 4 presidential elections. The performance came amid the biggest demonstrations against Putin’s rule since he first came to power in 2000.
Three alleged members of the group have since been detained and could face up to seven years behind bars if found guilty of hooliganism charges. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina have been remanded in custody until April 24.
A third suspected member, Irina Lokteva, was arrested last week and a judge will decide on Friday if she will also remain in custody until her trial. All the women have small children.Chaplin, who oversees relations between Russia’s influential Orthodox Church and society, also said that he was ready to visit the group in custody.“The Church does not want to destroy its enemies, but change the sinners for the better,” added Chaplin.A number of religious figures, including Chaplain, have said the women should not be imprisoned.“Putin is behind the repression of Pussy Riot, not believers or the Orthodox Church,” an at-liberty masked member of Pussy Riot said on the Snob show, which was hosted by socialite turned opposition activist Ksenia Sobchak. “He was scared by the Russian uprising.”Another group member denied the performance was of an anti-religious nature. “We respect all religions, including Orthodox Christianity,” she said.Read the full story here.