Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova on Putin’s Ukraine invasion: “He is insane”

nme.com:

Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova has spoken out in a new interview against Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, calling the Russian leader “insane”.Tolokonnikova and her Pussy Riot bandmates have been longtime critics of Putin’s regime, with Tolokonnikova herself spending two years in a Siberian prison for dissenting.

Earlier this year, she and bandmate Nika Nikulshina were labelled “foreign agents” by the Russian government.In a new interview with The Guardian, Tolokonnikova discussed her fears for the people of Ukraine and the jeopardy facing Russians who speak out against Putin.“Putin just signed a law that said you’re going to get 15 years in jail for even discussing the war in Ukraine,” she said. “You cannot even call it a war, you have to call it a special military operation.”Last month, Tolokonnikova launched a new series of NFTs to support the relief effort in Ukraine, and the Guardian reports that the scheme raised over £5million in its first five days on sale.Tolokonnikova commented: “We felt, me and my friends in crypto, that we had to react somehow.

I’m personally convinced that in situations like this, activism is the only thing that can keep you sane. Just looking at disasters and tragedies and not doing anything about it is really detrimental for the world, but also it slowly destroys you and makes you feel helpless.”Of her feelings around the invasion, she told The Guardian: “I’m in a panic, I’m crying every day.

I don’t think it was in any sense necessary, I don’t think it was in any sense logical. It wasn’t something that had to happen, it’s a disaster that will end thousands of people’s lives.