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Maxim Shemetov / Reuters
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, a member of female punk band Pussy Riot, is escorted by police as she arrives at a Moscow court on Monday.
Updated at 9:20 a.m. ET: MOSCOW - Three women who protested against Vladimir Putin in a "punk prayer" on the altar of Russia's main cathedral went on trial Monday in a case seen as a test of the longtime leader's treatment of dissent during a new presidential term.
The members of the band Pussy Riot face up to seven years in prison for an unsanctioned performance in February in which they entered Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral, ascended the altar and called on the Virgin Mary to "throw Putin out!"
Maria Alyokhina, 24, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 29, were brought to Moscow's Khamovniki court for Russia's highest-profile trial since former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky was convicted in 2010.
Governments and rights groups, as well as musicians such as Sting, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Franz Ferdinand, have expressed concern about the trial, reflecting doubts that Putin - who is serving his third presidential term and could be in power until 2024 - will become more tolerant of dissenting voices.
On Monday, supporters chanted "Girls, we're with you!" and "Victory!" as the women, each handcuffed by the wrist to a female officer, were led from a white and blue police van into the courthouse through a side entrance. Streets around the court, on a high Moscow River embankment, were closed.
More Russia coverage from NBCNews.com
They were led into a metal and clear-plastic courtroom cage, where they milled and spoke with lawyers as preparations began. Tolokonnikova, in a blue checkered shirt, lowered her head to speak through a small opening in the enclosure. Two pairs of handcuffs hung at the ready just beside her face.
Three female punk rockers are put on trial in Russia after taking over the pulpit at an Orthodox cathedral and performing a controversial song criticizing President Putin. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
"We did not want to offend anybody," Tolokonnikova said, speaking to a defense lawyer who stood outside the enclosure. "We admit our political guilt, but not legal guilt."
The band's stunt was designed to highlight the close relationship between the dominant Russian Orthodox Church and former KGB officer Putin, then prime minister, whose campaign to return to the presidency in a March election was backed clearly, if informally, by the leader of the church, Patriarch Kirill.
'Serious problems' with vote that kept Putin in power, monitors say
Symbolically, the trial is taking place in the same Moscow courthouse where Khodorkovsky was found guilty of stealing his own oil in a trial in 2010 that many Western politicians said looked like a crude Kremlin attempt to keep a man it saw as a political threat behind bars.
'Our motives are exclusively political'
The women are charged with hooliganism motivated by religious hatred or hostility.
But in opening statements read by a defense lawyer, who sometimes struggled with the handwritten texts, they said they were protesting against Kirill's political support for Putin and had no animosity toward the church or the faithful.
"I have never had such feelings toward anyone in the world," Tolokonnikova said in her statement. "We are not enemies of Christians ... our motives are exclusively political."
"We only want Russia to change for the better," she said.
Alyokhina's statement said: "I thought the church loved all its children, but it seems the church loves only those children who love Putin."
Maxim Shemetov / Reuters
Maria Alyokhina, a member of Pussy Riot, arrives at a Moscow court on Monday.
The women looked thinner and paler than they did when they were jailed following the performance in late February, shortly before Putin, in power as president from 2000-2008 and then as prime minister, won a six-year presidential term on March 4.
"She looks like she has been on a long hunger strike," Stanislav Samutsevich said of his daughter. "Her cheeks are hollow … I've never seen her in such a state. I think this is like an inquisition, like mockery."
A reporter on state-run Rossiya-24 television presented a different picture, focusing on occasional smiles and chuckles and an overall air of self-assuredness among the women, who whispered to each other as a prosecutor read the charges.
PhotoBlog: Topless feminist confronts Russian church patriarch
"Look at their faces; they are laughing and joking," the reporter said on the news, adding that a viewer might think they were "continuing the action" they carried out at the cathedral.
Prosecutors asked for the trial, which was streamed live on the Internet, to be closed to the public and the media, saying a "rift in society" and emotions over the case put the defendants and other participants at risk.
Envelope-pushing performances
Pussy Riot, who say they were inspired by bands such as Bikini Kill from the 1990s-era Riot Grrrl U.S. feminist punk movement, burst onto the scene this winter with angry lyrics and envelope-pushing performances, including one on Red Square, that went viral on the Internet.
The collective see themselves as part of a disenchanted generation that is looking for creative ways to show its dissatisfaction with Putin's dominance of the political landscape.
The all-girl group has no lead singer, and, in order that anyone may join, its members don multi-colored balaclavas, which have become its trademark. They numbered five when they formed in November but later expanded to 10 members, though there have been no performances in Russia since their bandmates' arrest.
Among the group's most noted outrageous acts was the drawing of an enormous phallus on a drawbridge in St. Petersburg. Several members participated in an obscene "fertility rite" at Moscow museum, mocking Dmitry Medvedev, who was elected Russian president the next day.
From March 2012: Anti-Putin activists pay high price, but refuse to back down
'Russian superhero' needed?
One member of the group, who spoke to Britain's The Observer newspaper, said members of the band masked their faces to appear anonymous in public to show that "everybody can be Pussy Riot." The 25-year-old, who spoke via video while in hiding for fear of arrest, went by the nickname "Sparrow."
She said a "Russian superhero" was needed at the moment. Wearing masks and costumes during performances, "Sparrow" told The Observer, felt like "having a second life. It's like being Spider-Man or Catwoman. ... When I'm in a mask I feel a little bit like a superhero. I feel more power. I feel really brave. I believe that I can do everything and can change the situation."
Russian Orthodox Church apologizes for Photoshopping patriarch's watch
She also told the newspaper: "It's a bit scary but we're sure what we are doing is right. … When you're doing the right thing you're not scared. Because it's horrible what's happened to the girls."
Anthony Kiedis and Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers spoke out in support of the group during the Calif. funk-rock band's July 22 concert in Moscow. Kiedis wore a Pussy Riot t-shirt on stage and both musicians gave letters to Pyotr Verzilov, Tolokonnikova's husband, according to The Guardian newspaper.
Church revival
The unsanctioned performance that prompted the arrest of three Pussy Riot members offended many believers in predominantly Orthodox Christian Russia, where the church has enjoyed a huge revival since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
More Europe coverage from NBCNews.com
But while some two-thirds of the country's 142 million people are considered Russian Orthodox, the number of practicing churchgoers is far smaller in a nation where the legacy of decades of official atheism looms large.
Patriarch Kirill has said the church was "under attack by persecutors" and has encouraged pro-church demonstrations including a procession to Christ the Savior in April.
"This is only the small, visible tip of an iceberg of extremists," Mikhail Kuznetsov, a lawyer representing church security guards, said in an interview with the newspaper Moscow News last week. "They are aiming to destroy the thousand-year-old traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church, to provoke a schism, and to deceivingly bring the flock not towards God, but towards Satan."
A topless woman protests at the arrival of the Russian Orthodox Church leader in Ukraine. NBCNews.com's Alex Witt reports.
'Harmless civil activity'
The defendants' supporters say the charges are politically-motivated.
In a poll by the independent Levada Center and released by the prominent newspaper Kommersant earlier this month, 50 percent of Muscovites said they did not support a criminal trial for the members of Pussy Riot, with 36 percent supporting the trial.
Pussy Riot's cathedral performance was part of a lively protest movement that at its peak saw 100,000 people turn out for rallies in Moscow, some of the largest in Russia since the demise of the USSR.
Reuters, The Associated Press and NBC News staff contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
Pussy Riot has got to be the coolest name ever for an all girl punk band!
And I thought we only had clueless folks in the US. Protesting in a church at the alter is soooo incredibly disrespectful. They deserve what they get.
Soooo....If you speak your mind in a church you should be thrown in jail for 7 years??? Really?? You should look in the mirror before you call anyone else clueless...
"Those girls are in a punk band?#@! Bwaaahhhhh." Quotation from Iggy Pop.
Well behaved women NEVER change history. GOOD FOR YOU PUSSY RIOT!!!!!! You have this old womans FULL SUPPORT! It is time to quit sitting on our rumps and DO something about the power hungry fools in charge. It is time that Putin and his heavy hand of tyrrany come to an end. The E.O Church is linked throughout recent history as being a major player in subversive Russian polititcs. Willowbrook, I hope you are joking, if not maybe you should do some research on Russian history at least since 1903 and the E.O church.
Their arrest has nothing to do with criticizing Putin - they did a wild publicity stunt in a church - totally inappropriate and illegal. They should go to jail for that.
So apparently Russia simultaneously has the hottest spies in the world (e.g. Anna Chapman) and (judging from the pictures in the article) the hottest left-wing feminist punk-rockers in the world. What a country!
In all seriousness, while I don't condone doing what they did in a church, I do believe that 7 years in prision is way too excessive a punishment. I do hope that the judge does grant them some mercy when they are sentenced (and I"m safely assuming here that any trial in Russia in which Putin has such an interest will result in their convition), I won't hold my breath. Sadly, I fear they will get the maximum sentence.
I just re-read my post and noticed that I typo'ed the word "conviction" and poorly constructed the second sentence in my second paragraph. I figured I should point out my own mistakes before someone else does!
Are you out of your freaking mind? F*ck the church! It's no different than a store or a theater. Maybe there are public nuisance violations but these girls are looking at 7 years in prison. If people feel that way about churches then we had better ban churches and religion along with it!
UDunno,
Ban churches? Take it easy there hot shot. Obviously you dont understand how Russia works or worked back in the KGB days. Putin will do what ever the hell he wants and there is not one thing the US can or will do about it. Not saying I agree with him but its a completely different world over there.
Bro... go and pull the same stunt in a National Cathedral in Washington DC and see what kind of charges our government will bring up against you. We charge people who have a big firecracker with possession of weapons of mass destruction and have them face 25 years to life. How does that grab you?
I'd like to preface this by saying that I don't know about recent E.O. Church involvement in Russian politics. However, after the Russian Revolution and once the atheistic communist government came to power, the government persecuted the Chuch. Bishops and hundreds of priests were jailed and killed. Churches were confiscated and turned into museums and government offices. Once Soviet Union fell, there was a return of the church buidings. There was not a close relationship between the government and the Church through much of the 20th century.
@ BeerBrian - so it is ok to act the ways those girls did in the front of a Church?? I'm not saying they can't protest, but doing this didn't help their cause. People expect a certain level of respect. Even if you're not religious, to go into a historic church and act disrespectful is not appropriate. I still say they get what they deserve. Go protest in public.
@ Kallie - I do know something about religion in Russia. They are fortunate religion has survived all the horrible things that had been done to them. No doubt, since they are no longer subjigated by those in power, they are trying to change things too. As long as it's allowed in their country, why should you complain about it?
@Willow
I'm not saying it was respectful, however being sentenced to 7 years for being verbally disrespectful is insane, especially when the government is doing it to set an example to curb future protests against them. Also, if the church is the lapdog of the dictator's regime and pushes his policies, then they deserve everyone to protest and disrespect their establishment.
@ BeerBrian - Its says "they face up to 7 years." It didn't say they got 7 years. And they were already in jail for this stunt before Putin was re-elected.
Ever heard of "Jack off Jill?"
This has everything to do with putin....
There is a reason that Dictator starts with "Dic" What a total "tool" this creep is. I am wondering, as even in the USA, egotistical, maniacal, self-indulgent asses like this continue to get elected. Obviously he is not about the "people" but only his own political and monetary gains. Sensor music and free speech, what next?
You don't get prison sentences for disrespect in a civilized society. If that were the case, we'd all be in jail - including you, Willow.
Tresspassing is the worst offense committed here.
@willowbrook,
Protesting in a Chuch?????? Do you mean such as Christ did when he drove the moneychangers from the Temple??????? What an idiot.
"I looked the man [Putin] in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. We had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul; a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country."
- President Bush at a joint press conference, June 16, 2001
When I think of "Punk Rock" I think of the Sex Pistols or the Dead Kennedys although if you want to get down to brass tacks all the good rockabilly like Gene Vincent had the same FU attitude. Play real loud and play real fast. Get a girl and some booze for some "fun" and get out of town before her parents find out. Repeat as necessary. Calling it Punk Rock is almost quaint.
Maybe putin should be on trial?
#occupypussyriot
Nothing has changed in Russia. Just watch them vote at the United Nations.
Russian police arrest protesters in a cathedral, and you say nothing has changed in Russia? You should visit your history teacher and demand your money back.
You apparently failed Reading Comprehension. That goes for the morons who gave you two thumbs. One was probably yourself. Maybe I should rephrase it for the not so savvy. Communism is alive and well in Russia.
You apparently failed basic logic and reasoning. Name-calling aside, allow me to put your and my statements in the form of syllogisms, so that even you can comprehend. Your argument:
Premise: The Russians still vote the same way in the United Nations
Conclusion: Nothing has changed. (Your words, my emphasis)
My argument:
Premise: Communist Russia used to persecute all religions.
Premise: The article states that the Russian government is arresting protesters in a cathedral.
Conclusion: Something has changed.
Your post would have been much more defensible (and truthful) if you had settled for "Communism is alive and well in Russia." Alas, you decided to post your though before you knew what it was.
So much for freedom of speech in Russia
You try to pull the same stunt here in US and see what happens.
You'd get a misdemeanor trespass charge, a year in jail, suspended sentence, and a fine/probation.
How would you like it if a punk band broke into your local church and broke into obscenities? I am American, born and raised here. I was also raised Russian Orthodox. That church does not belong to the State, it belongs to the Church. They were trespassing and acting disrespectful. Just like protesters here are arrested and taken from private buildings, so can it be done eslewhere. If they wanted to park their guitars outside of the Church that's one thing.
Also, the picture here says something else to those of us who are part of this faith. Three girls were at the Iconostasis of the church. It means they passed the no-go zone for non-clergy. That is sacrilege of a different type. If they had shed blood (or if it was that time of the month) the whole church would have had to been reconsecrated.
I will agree with Janell that 7 years is too much, the punishment you described would be sufficient.
Max^108,
"You try to pull the same stunt here in US and see what happens."
Similar stunts have been pulled here in the U.S. In the old days of antagonism between Quakers and Puritans, the Quakers used to occasionally run naked through Puritan churches during the service just to get a rise out of them. In more recent times gay protesters belonging to ACT UP, a militant gay group, waged a campaign against the Catholic Church from 1989 to 1992 they called the "Stop the Church" movement. During that time they defaced San Franicisco's St. Mary's Cathedral, decorating the doors with posters and red handprints suggesing that the Church had "blood on its hands". In 1990 abortion rights activists joined gay protesters in staging a noisy walkout during a mass at St. Patrick's, and in December of 1990 they disrupted a Christmas mass in a Washington Church. Those are only some of the protests that occurred inside the churchs to say nothing of the many protests that have been held outside Catholic churches.
Keeping an eye on this group. Both of them.
Good luck ladies!
Just goes to show, you can never trust anyone who was in the KGB or anyone associated with the horrible institution of organized religion.
I do not believe that disrespecting sacred religious establishment to protest is right way to protest. How do you think this will be lookedd upon if it were to occur here in US.
You might be asked to leave, some may not like it and tell you off, but you certainly wouldn't be imprisoned for 7 years and made an example of so the government can keep protests against them to a minimum. Also, if the religious establishment is in the pockets of those in control of the regime (Putin), then I'm not so sure it's disrespectful at all. Don't like people protesting at your place? Stop pushing the policies of the dicator!
We will have to wait and see if the sentence is 7 years are not.In the US the maximum sentence is usually much higher than the actual sentence handed down for an offense.
But on another point.To the people that have no problem with them invading the Cathedral in protest of what they see as Church support of the government in Russia.Would you also support them if here in the US groups were to invade the major church's here that support the right-wing .And maybe taking over the altars in major Catholic Cathedrals to protest the Catholic Church's stand on reproductive rights.Probably not,because I suspect the actual reason you support these people,is not concern for human rights.But instead your dislike of Putin's government and fear of a strong Russia.
And finally,the part of the article that is more misleading than any other was:" Symbolically, the trial is taking place in the same Moscow courthouse where Khodorkovsky was found guilty of stealing his own oil in a trial in 2010 that many Western politicians said looked like a crude Kremlin attempt to keep a man it saw as a political threat behind bars". Since when is stripping a crook of the proceeds of his criminal enterprises considered wrong.He gained control of that oil in the ultra-corrupt dealings of the bad Yeltsin years.It wasn't "his own oil" to begin with.
Pussy Riot, you are a riot!
In Soviet Russia pussy go in prison. KGB take real good care.
Throw them all in jail- The world is getting tired of these type of antics. You played now you pay.
Stalin, is that you? You must keep these hardened criminals in jail for good and make sure that they can no longer hurt, steal from, or violate other people's rights ever again! Wait, they just played a song in public...Oh...
Standing up for freedom and democracy? Who's tired of that? Fascist neo-cons?
Beer Brian---ahahhahahahhaha!!!!! Stalin, is that you......lol
Kelldon--just read a book on Russian history and then you will see how brave these girls were.
'Conservatives' are all for freedom of speech and 'god-given rights' until someone who they don't like uses those rights.
wildcatwest, I think you may need to re-address what you just wrote. Just because the owner of chik fil a is against gays being married, raum dumdum in chicago and his alterman friend will do their best to stop him from opening a store there, is it not up to the people to buy or not to buy the way to let him know if what he had the right to say good or bad. These are the dems that odumbo so loves.
Tired of these antics.... it is to laugh. The fact that these antics draw the attention of a government proves the antics are necessary.
Beer- Please actually read the story-
The members of the band Pussy Riot face up to seven years in prison for an unsanctioned performance in February in which they entered Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral, ascended the altar and called on the Virgin Mary to "throw Putin out!"
They were not in public-on private property and they desecrated the sanctuary. I know this means nothing to godless liberals but in some places this is still unlawful and a big deal..
I seem to recall Martin Luther used a pulpit to denounce the people in power, too.
Oh, that's right -- he was a man. That makes it ok.
@Kelldon
Cathedrals are much like museums in the sense that while they are technically private property, they are open to the public and generate their revenue from the public masses that visit them. However, that is besides the point. The point is, regardless of whether or not it was public or private property, it is ridiculous and insane that people would be thrown in prison for 7 years just because what they said wasn't agreed upon by the government and the owners or those in charge of the establishment. They didn't hurt anybody, they didn't steal anything, they simply stood on the altar and expressed their dislike of the current Russian regime. That's it. It wouldn't bother me if they were simply asked to leave, but to have them arrested and thrown in prison for 7 years is crazy. it doesn't take a "godless liberal" to understand that this is nothing more than a government suppressing speech rights in order to tighten their grip on society by making an example out of these women. I find it funny that the Christians, the people who advocate forgiveness and compassion for others in theory, seem to always be the ones who are the first to advocate imprisoning, killing, suppressing rights, invading other nations, etc. Why is that?
Maybe you didn't notice but Putin was elected. Let them protest outside. A church is meant of worship not unsolicited punk rock. Also bridges are meat for crossing not vandalism. It seem this isn't the first time they have gone too far. Seven years is a bit much however they haven't been convicted or sentenced yet so we will have to wait and see.
No! it was HIS pulpit and that makes it OK.
And Liberals are the first to condemn any Conservative that exercises their own.
Millions of Liberals are fiercely religious, and millions of Conservatives are not.
Most every Lib I see of color is quite religious, as well as most of the ones I see every day where I live who are not of color as do they love their guns and hunt.
Our prisons are chock full of Liberals who are quite religious as well as have a long history of violence to prove it.
"Stalin, is that you?"
I do hope you know that Josef Stalin HATED religion. If he were alive today, he would have everyone in that church burned alive.
Josef Vissarionovich had finished a theological seminary, by the way. And yes, he hated the church until he put it under his control. After that (approx. 1940s) Orthodox church in USSR was tolerated, but but every significant priest was forced to "cooperate" with KGB. Current patriarch Cyrill certainly was.
Putin is no president or prime minister, but instead a dictator that will continue to increase his stronghold on Russia (USSR?) as time goes on. I really feel bad for the Russian people. They haven't had a leader that hasn't made people suffer in order to tighten their control of the country and people in its history. Czarist Russia, USSR, "Democratic" Russia-Same tune, different fiddle...
What's funny is that you think there is currently much difference between the US and Russia in that regard.
I'm sure Mr. Putin is reclarifying his own Christian beliefs and would like the girls to be aware of his persevering faith.
So Putin is going to get "conjugal" visits while they're in prison; to demonstrate his "persevering faith"?
Russia sucks. Dictatorland forever it seems.
Scarlett Johansson has a doppelganger!
"A test of the president's tolerance of dissent"? No, it is a test of the ability of three young women from privileged backgrounds to demand what they feel is their birthright: free publicity.
Any why again is this story front page news on NBCNEWS home page when we have some awesome stories of courage and dignity in with our US Olympians?
"Tolokonnikova a member of female punk band Pussy Riot!" Come on!! This is your front page news that takes up most of your home page?
How about putting this article on the side with a text link and placing an Olympian story where this one is. It gives me a headache to even read the comments on this article.
Why don't you try getting arrested by Russian authorities by airing your free and unfettered voice...and then complain it is not courage. You are a freaking idiot. Have you ever been arrested? (Have you ever stepped outside your own house you fool?). Every single time a russian protestor gets global coverage and sheds the light of truth on what Russia REALLY is, sorry it IS newsworthy and your feeble opinion is utterly meaningless since you cannot view the internal import of a corrupt nation slowly being chipped away at...a nation that PS -is hosting the next games - still not relevant...then be quiet. Moron.
You read the headline, clicked on the article, at least took a glance at the article (if not read the entire thing), found it necessary to comment on the article, but yet you still complain about the article and say that the comments gave you a headache...Wow. And your comment doesn't cause headaches? This article is just as important, if not more important than some games that you keep blathering about...
@Ananya
Had I first read your comment, I wouldn't have felt the need to comment myself. Well said.
The Olympics is a distraction to keep plebeians masses satiated while the corrupt steal our freedom here and abroad.
I'm amazed it's on the front page, but not for the same reasons as you.
Dear Ananya Morino,
I have news for you, Freedom of speech is not guaranteed in Russia. I did watch that video of those idiot girls committing the crime of "Hooliganism " which is behavior that is unruly, bullying, or vandalizing.
Guess what? That is ILLEGLE in RUSSIA and they deserve anything they get!! I think you are way out of line by calling me a moron but you have the right to show everyone how you feel. The fact that you think it is ok to be a Hooligan and to break the law makes me believe you are a Hooligan yourself!!
Also, I would not get arrested in Russia for that crime because I am smart enough to know not to show up at a church looking like an total idiot bullying and vandalizing someone else’s place of worship.
Watch that video again and imagine this Ananya Morino:
Imagine being in a packed movie theater this weekend in the US. Imagine sitting in the front row. Are you following me? Ok, let’s say the movie started and 4 idiots with hoods came out in front of everyone and started screaming, dancing, and unruly, bullying, or vandalizing the crowd????????
WHAT WOULD HAPPEN?
I am going to tell you what would happen. The crowd would attack them, people would get hurt, and the three people would be arrested and go to jail.
Imagine that, they would go to jail and we have free speech here. Why would they go to jail here where it is legal to do that but not go to jail there where it is illegal???
Bet you never thought about that did you!! Do you know why you never thought abou it? Because you are to busy defending ignorance, bullying, disrespect, vandalizing, no matter where it is taking place in the world without really looking at all the details invoilved!
These punk rockers are nothing but punks, just like you for supporting them!
Also, this article was on the main front page real big when I posted my original message. They removed it 5 minutes later!! Thank you very much!
Once again.. This is not newsworthy to me... The punks broke the law and they should pay the price...
BeerBrian,
You see this article as important as the Olympics and you support the crime that took place and think your free speech applies there.
I see this article as punk kids, bullying, disrespect, vandalizing, a church, against the church’s will and breaking the law of Hooliganism in Russia. Look it up..
Just like buying a pound of cocaine is illegal in the US, Hooliganism is illegal in Russia!! I bet you wouldn't buy a pound a cocaine because you "think you can do it" would you? You know it is illegal, just like they knew Hooliganism is illegal. But they did it and you didn't.
You guys just don’t get it and need to move to Russia if you think that behavior is acceptable. They broke the law – END STORY
Last explanation i heard about the unusually harsh reaction is that Putin is superstitious and just fears that Virgin Mary may listen to these girls, not to his state-loving priests.
Russia will always be two steps behind the rest of the world. I wish we could move all the cool ones here and let the rest burn in hell. Viva free pussy!
ANANYA MORINO, being two steps behind rest of the world is not a bad thing especially when rest of the world is about to step off the cliff!!!!
Really? Russia has brought it's debt down to under 10% meanwhile the the US debt is over 100%. I won't even get into Europe. Seems like in some things Russia is two steps ahead.
yes jsut ask any Rusian pensioner about how well they are doing
Go girls! Anybody willing to stand up for their rights has my vote.
And on a sidebar...this could (Hell, it probably HAS) happen here, if we let the powers that be get their way and do nothing.
When a "Pied Piper" starts to rule, the world is in trouble....... A "Pied Piper" is suppose to be an entertainer......What has happened to "Common Sense" in our modern world? Their statement was against a manner of Worship and a political situation................. If they had done this in a Mosque, they may have been beheaded...........
It appears that it's the women of Russia who have the balls.
Ever heard the song: : "It takes balls to be a woman", it is done by a very young female folksinger. Cool song.
It sounds like a song that I would appreciate! Being female also has it's perks and so far I have no complaints.
As usual the West is at it again with fury to destroy mother RUSSIA. They have tried it with Napoleon, Kaiser, and Hitler , but to no avail. Now they are trying to use Satanic cults to destroy their children within. Punk rock is Satans music and it has helped to destroy children in the west. You don't have to look hard to hear and see all the mass shootings all over USA, committed by young people. Putin is good for Russia and Russia has to be ruled with an iron fist. It is simply too big. We in the west really do not have democracy, we only have an illusion of democracy. Plutocracy is the rule of the land. Putin and the Orthodox church are going to be the glue that will old Russia well into the future and give them the strength to save rest of the world from themselves. Writer uses Khordakovsky as an example of how Putin was tough is really bogus. Khordakovsky was an oil tycoon who stole billions of dollars out of mother Russia and wired it to ISRAEL. In the USA if you take more then 10000.00 you will go to jail. This guy was a criminal of the first kind and jail is where he belongs. Mark my word he will rot in jail, never to see freedom. We have major oil companies steeling oil from us in the USA by not paying royalties the American tax payers deserve. All the revenue shortfalls have to be saddled on the backs of consumers and tax payers.
If you're going to be anti-Semitic at least back it up with a link SRBINAT. It sounds more like Khordakovsky lost most of his assets to taxes. His mother was Christian not Jewish.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4482203.stm
There you go again, using the Anti-Semite trump card , well you are wrong, I love Tora Jews. Just google Khordakovsky and stolen billions and you will see where they ended up!!!
And here I thought the devil only played the fiddle! Wow.
SRBINAT, I hate to break this to you, but punk rock hasn't really been on the scene much for about 15 years here in the US (though it's still out there in certain circles) and it was never that popular overall. Certainly not enough to "destroy children" and not the cause of mass shootings! It just never gained that kind of foothold here in the US. Music isn't a culprit of anything - people make their own choices, including if they will be influenced by a song. I'm still wondering though, why you feel people are too unintelligent to manage their own lives and have to be treated like sheep in order to survive. That makes no sense to me.
I did and of course found - nothing.
yes very dangerous crowd these protesters. much more than the Communists that detroyed all churches in Russia, did any of them go to prison for their actions, and Russia does not have to worry about the West, just look in the mirror
Yup, the paranoia always comes out. Have you tried Lithium? It does tend to quiet those voices that you probably hear.
They have tried it with Napoleon, Kaiser, and Hitler , but to no avail. Now they are trying to use Satanic cults to destroy their children within. Punk rock is Satans music and it has helped to destroy children in the west.
Boy, you think Punk Rock is current in the West? Punk reached its peak in the 1980's. Also, looking at what else you wrote, I would have to assume that you stopped reading anything after Progress Publishers went under. You may want to use some of that Ortho/Putin glue to rebind your ABC of Dialectical Materialism. You could ponder the negation of the negation and other amazing things.
Well, I will leave you to be horrified over other obsolete fads, like Disco.
What I liked about Soviet consumer electronics was the fact that they always seemed to be a quarter century or more out of date, such as the Zenits, Lubitels, and FEDS. It seems that that tradition is being carried on with you. I will leave your delayed reaction panic attack granny.
The author of this article, the proofreaders at the NBC copy desk, and the editors who supposedly vet their work, must all be asleep. This story uses the phrase "avant guard", when what should have appeared is "avant garde". Forty years ago, no reputable news organization would have allowed a mistake like this to make it into print.
Does the spelling mistake make the article less readable? I don't think so. Nit-pick all you want, but anyone who goes after spelling errors instead of sustenance misses the point.
Amazed that so many of the same people who are anti-communist are pro-Russia and want to see these women's freedom of expression punished.
You go girls!
Yes, they are fortunate Russia is easy on women.... Had they done this in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Qatar. Algeria, Libya, etc............ Where do you think these "women" would be at this moment?
@Sea2see
Well said. Indeed, you go girls!
@Riley
7 years in prison for singing in a church is considered taking it easy on them? Just because they weren't mutilated, raped, or killed doesn't mean they are taking it easy on them. Yes, we know the Middle East treats women horribly. What's your point?
Nothing against the girls but i think they did actually break the law. i also believe even if u take some bad ballots from putin he did actually get voted for president. We have bad ballots in the U.S. with dead people being counted and so forth.
testing