Since being subject to one of the most highly-publicized human rights violations in recent years, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina of Russian political punk group Pussy Riot have been on a bit of a PR push over the last few weeks, meeting with Hillary Clinton and Charlie Rose and posing for awkwardly stern-looking photos with a whole host of celebrities.
Tolokonnikova and Alekhina met Clinton while attending the Women in the World Summit in New York last Friday, after which Clinton tweeted a picture to her million followers, accompanied by a tweet reading, “Great to meet the strong & brave young women from #PussyRiot, who refuse to let their voices be silenced in #Russia.”
The two band members were treated to two years in prison (with the extra exciting bonus of hard labor at no extra cost!) for staging an anti-Putin protest in a cathedral. During their time, they were forced to sew military and police uniforms for up to 14 hours a day.
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During their appearance on NBC’s Today show, Charlie Rose asked how, as mothers, they imagined their future, given the potentially life-threatening risks of their political activism.
“Our children, as opposed to Putin’s children, live in Russia,” Alyokhina responded. “We’re trying to build a good future for our children.”
“A great Russian culture can grow and develop without an authoritarian regime over it. No to censure and oppression,” Tolokonnikova added.
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The pair also made an appearance at Roland Emmerich‘s welcome dinner last Sunday at his restaurant Acabar, which was held to commemorate their first day in Hollywood, where they’ve been raising money for their prisoners’ rights NGO, Zona Prava, and meeting with filmmakers interested in their story.
While there, Jim Carrey, Lance Reddick, Jeff Goldblum, Glee‘s Chris Colfer and Boys Don’t Cry director Kimberly Peirce all formed an orderly queue, or something, to have their meeting with the band documented in photographic immortality.
Having spent previous career highlights hidden under balaclavas, methinks this may take some getting used to.
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