Pussy Riot: we are different people now

Pussy Riot band members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina say prison changed them. They told journalists they are not the same people who staged punk prayer at the cathedral.

Nadia Tolokonnikova said: “Our final goal is solidarity, a developed civil society and ability to help each other. We saw all of this while we were in prison and it was a real miracle, we are very grateful to all people who supported us.”

She continued: “For us, the punk prayer in the Christ the Saviour cathedral is not too important any more. We are different people now.

“We lived through a long life in prison. It is totally different reality from the one you live, and this life, this common experience, unites us now much more than joint participation in the punk prayer in the Christ the Saviour Cathedral.”

Discussing the case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the Russian oligarch released earlier last week after spending 10 years in jailed, Ms Tolokonnikova said: “I want to clear things right away because I know there are talks about it now. We offered cooperation to Mikhail Borisovich (Khodorkovsky), but in no way did we mean financial cooperation.

“For us he is important as a very strong person, an unbelievable personality, who lived through a prison experience which was much longer and much tougher than ours. That’s why, for us, he is an important figure.”