As expected, the two imprisoned members of Pussy Riot walked free on Monday after serving almost the entirety of their two-year sentence, thanks to an amnesty bill -- or publicity stunt -- introduced by President Vladimir Putin. At their first press conference, held this morning in Moscow, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina revealed plans to form a crowd-funded human rights organization, "Zona Prava" ("Justice Zone"), focused on an issue with which they are all too familiar: protecting prisoners' rights.
This announcement marks not only a shift in focus, but also the end of Pussy Riot as we have known it. "We can promote our cause without playing any shows. And we will never play any shows for money," said Alyokhina, making clear that cashing in on the Pussy Riot brand will not be a part of the plan. "We are not Pussy Riot now," Tolokonnikova said. But "As for Vladimir Putin," Tolokonnikova said, "We still feel the same about him. We still want to do what we said in our last performance for which we spent two years in prison: drive him away."
