The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E8: Nadya & Pussy Riot Punk the President

Summary

The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E8: Nadya & Pussy Riot Punk the President
Season 3, Episode 8
Release Date: May 26, 2025
Host: Anna Sinfield
Produced by Novel for iHeart Podcasts

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Introduction

In this compelling episode of The Girlfriends: Jailhouse Lawyer, host Anna Sinfield delves into the daring and defiant story of Nadia Tolokonnikova and the punk collective Pussy Riot. This episode explores their audacious protests against Russian President Vladimir Putin, the severe repercussions they faced, and their unwavering commitment to activism despite immense personal costs.

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Early Life and Influences (00:02:39 - 00:08:20)

Nadia Tolokonnikova, born in Siberia in 1989, describes her upbringing in a region known for its harsh climate and vast landscapes. Reflecting on her childhood, Nadia shares:

“It’s a place where you have winter for nine months out a year. It’s minus 40 degrees Celsius, plus really, really heavy wind. Polar winter brings its own heaviness on everyone's lives.” (00:07:03)

Raised in an artistic family, Nadia was immersed in art from a young age. Her father, a multimedia artist during the Soviet era, instilled in her a passion for creative expression. By her teenage years, Nadia was inspired by contemporary artists and soon sought to replicate their transformative societal impact.

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Formation of Pussy Riot (00:08:29 - 00:17:37)

Motivated by the increasing authoritarianism in Russia under Putin’s leadership, Nadia moved to Moscow at 16 to study philosophy. Disillusioned with the commercial art scene, she sought to inject political activism into her creative endeavors. In 2007, alongside her husband and friends, Nadia co-founded a collective intended to challenge conservative art institutions and the political status quo.

The group envisioned creating a movement that used art as a tool for political change. Nadia explains:

“I wanted to see something like that around me among young, hungry artists. I wanted them to change the world.” (00:09:22)

Inspired by the Riot Grrrl movement from the Pacific Northwest, Nadia and Katya Samutsevich conceptualized a Russian equivalent—Pussy Riot. Their goal was to merge avant-garde art with feminist and political messages to confront Putin’s regime directly.

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Punk Prayer and the Cathedral Protest (00:17:37 - 00:27:30)

On February 21, 2012, Pussy Riot staged a provocative performance inside Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Clad in colorful dresses and ski masks, the five members performed "Punk Prayer," a song blending religious imagery with feminist and anti-Putin sentiments. Nadia describes the performance:

“We knew that we were touching a topic that is potentially radioactive. But we believe that because we do a symbolic, artistic protest, we don't punch anyone. We don't destroy anything.” (00:26:29)

The performance was brief, lasting only about 40 seconds before security swiftly removed them from the cathedral. Despite the lack of immediate arrests, Nadia sensed the gravity of their actions and the inevitable crackdown that would follow.

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Arrest and Trial (00:27:42 - 00:31:30)

Following the performance, Nadia, Katya, and another member, Maria Aliokina, became the Russian government's primary targets. Their arrest was swift and aggressive:

“They were surrounded by around 20 people in plain clothes. They yelled at us, they said, hands against the wall.” (00:28:21)

The trio was charged with hooliganism motivated by religious hatred and faced a highly politicized trial. The courtroom atmosphere was hostile, with the judge and prosecution portraying them as enemies of the state and the Orthodox Church. Nadia reflects on the trial's intensity:

“When it started, it became obvious that it's very accusatory. And the tone of the judge and the tone of all the participants from the government side was just so rude and so discriminatory to us.” (00:29:04)

Despite the oppressive environment, Nadia and her co-defendants maintained their defiance, turning their trial into a form of protest by embodying theatricality and resilience.

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Imprisonment and Resilience (00:31:34 - 00:33:43)

Convicted and sentenced to two years in a labor camp, Nadia endured harsh conditions designed to break her spirit:

“They make sure that they are exhausted, physically and emotionally to the point of turning into walking corpses.” (00:31:30)

During her imprisonment, Nadia engaged in hunger strikes and wrote open letters protesting the inhumane conditions. Her relentless activism earned her recognition as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. After 18 grueling months, amid international pressure and ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Nadia and Maria were granted early release.

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Post-Release Activism and Continued Struggle (00:33:36 - 00:45:19)

Freed from prison, Nadia and Pussy Riot quickly resumed their activism, targeting the Sochi Olympics with even bolder performances. Their acts of defiance, such as "Putin Will Teach You How to Love the Motherland," were met with increased surveillance and harassment by Russian authorities. Nadia describes the constant fear and pressure:

“Every move, every step is being watched, every word has been listened.” (00:39:30)

To amplify their voices without the direct threat of immediate arrest, Nadia and her team launched Mediazona, an independent media outlet aimed at exposing prison conditions and political trials in Russia.

In 2023, Nadia held her first solo gallery exhibition in Los Angeles titled "Putin's Ashes," a powerful artistic statement against Putin's invasion of Ukraine. This piece featured a ritualistic burning of Vladimir Putin's portrait, symbolizing resistance and the hope for a better Russia.

Despite her exile, Nadia remains a potent symbol of resistance. Declared a foreign agent and criminally pursued by the Russian government, her heart remains tethered to Russia, fueling her continued activism from abroad:

“I'm very attached to the place. I'm very attached to my language, and I would much rather speak in Russian right now.” (00:44:40)

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Conclusion: Unyielding Commitment (00:45:19 - End)

Nadia Tolokonnikova's journey with Pussy Riot underscores the formidable power of art as a catalyst for political change. Her unwavering dedication, despite severe personal sacrifices, exemplifies the spirit of resistance against oppressive regimes. The episode concludes with Anna highlighting Nadia's enduring mission to foster a freer, more egalitarian Russia, inspiring listeners with her resilience and relentless pursuit of justice.

---

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Nadia Tolokonnikova:
  “It’s a place where you have winter for nine months out a year. It’s minus 40 degrees Celsius, plus really, really heavy wind. Polar winter brings its own heaviness on everyone's lives.” (00:07:03)

• Nadia Tolokonnikova:
  “We knew that we were touching a topic that is potentially radioactive. But we believe that because we do a symbolic, artistic protest, we don't punch anyone. We don't destroy anything.” (00:26:29)

• Nadia Tolokonnikova:
  “When it started, it became obvious that it's very accusatory. And the tone of the judge and the tone of all the participants from the government side was just so rude and so discriminatory to us.” (00:29:04)

• Nadia Tolokonnikova:
  “I'm very attached to the place. I'm very attached to my language, and I would much rather speak in Russian right now.” (00:44:40)

---

Closing Remarks

Anna Sinfield wraps up the episode by emphasizing Nadia’s role as a beacon of hope and resistance. She encourages listeners to stay inspired by Nadia’s journey and to support movements that strive for equality and justice worldwide.

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Note: This episode is a poignant exploration of activism, resilience, and the transformative power of art in the face of authoritarianism. For those inspired by Nadia’s story, The Girlfriends: Jailhouse Lawyer continues to shed light on incredible narratives of women fighting for justice and freedom.

Transcript

[Anna Sinfield]

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[Nadia Tolokonnikova]

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[Katya Samutsevich]

Hey, girlfriends. I just wanted to give you a heads up that this episode includes conversations about state violence and incarceration. But around those, you'll hear the twisty tale of how a group of artists protest against the Russian government. Oh, and also, there's going to be some swearing. But you knew that already, didn't you? Nadia is sitting in her Moscow flat playing the piano.

[Anna Sinfield]

I'm a piano player. It's a typical thing for Russian kids. You either have to go to ballet or to piano.

[Katya Samutsevich]

She's stuck playing this little tune over and over.

[Anna Sinfield]

It was beautiful and really mystique. I wrote a little draft and wrote it to my friends, and we quickly made a track in a couple of hours. And that's the Punk Prayer.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Punk Prayer, a song of hope, anger, and dreams of a better Russia. And the friends she wrote that song for, they're the ski mask wearing protest collective Pussy Riot, created by Nadia.

[Anna Sinfield]

The chorus goes, virgin Mary, please become feminist. And in the verses we talk about reproductive justice, we talk about the corruption in the church. And one of my favorite lines, gay pride is sent to Siberia in shackles.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Nadia doesn't know it yet, but punk prayer will be heard all around the world with some pretty damning consequences.

[Anna Sinfield]

Eventually, it brought me to prison.

[Katya Samutsevich]

She'll spend almost two years in a prison labor camp sewing police uniforms from dawn till dusk. That's the price Nadiya and her Pussyright sisters will pay for challenging Russia's president Vladimir Putin, one of the most powerful, wealthy, and dangerous men on Earth.

[Anna Sinfield]

We're not professional criminals or anything like that. We're just a bunch of artists who were doing our best.

[Katya Samutsevich]

But Punk Prayer will also launch Pussy Riot as the moral conscience of Putin's Russia. The frontrunners of a global feminist movement rallying together against Russian authoritarian power and their weapon. Art. I'm Anna Sinfield, and from the teams at Novel and iHeart podcast, this is the Girlfriend Spotlight, where we tell stories of women winning. Today, Nadia punks the president. The first time I saw Nadia Tolikonikova and Pussy Riot was on my very 2012 Tumblr feed. I thought it was a cool statement. Art, funny hats. But it came and went like everything else on Tumblr. And then there were the arrests, the courtroom dramas, political interference and prison time. Now Pussy Riot were making headlines, and I was gripped. But I never really learned how Nadia and the other women got there. So let's start this story somewhere nice and Picturesque, like Siberia in 1989, the year Nadia was born.

[Anna Sinfield]

Siberia is a wonderful place and it has shape of a huge penis. So I'm from here, but my grandmother, who I would visit every summer vacation, lives between the balls. And to get from one part of the deck to another, you need to spend four hours in the plane.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Wow, that is a big dick.

[Anna Sinfield]

I know. No one can really impress me with the size of their thing after that.

[Katya Samutsevich]

It's not just Siberia's size that it's known for. It's also defined by its weather.

[Anna Sinfield]

It's a place where you have winter for nine months out a year. It's minus 40 degrees Celsius, plus really, really heavy wind. Polar winter brings its own heaviness on everyone's lives. So people find all sorts of escapes. It could be drugs and sometimes hard drugs, or it could be computer games. And for me it was mostly books. And my house was filled with art books on Botticelli and early Greek art. And I think it gave me radicalism that probably otherwise would not emerge.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Wow, you had like a really kind of highbrow early education in art. You weren't reading normal kids books.

[Anna Sinfield]

Art came with my family in a package. My dad and my mom, both very artistic people. My mom and dad split when I was 5, and she was responsible for feeding me and paying the bills. My dad, with whom I stayed connected and really close, he was a multimedia artist in the Soviet era, which also pushed him to the edge of society. But he gave me this passion to art.

[Katya Samutsevich]

By the early 2000s, Nadia had basically learned everything she needed from the grand masters of art. It was time to look to the future.

[Anna Sinfield]

It was a magical coincidence that this festival of contemporary art came to my home city. I was around 13, and I was lucky enough to witness a series of talks and exhibitions and performances of a few contemporary artists who became my guiding stars. And I started to model my life after them.

[Katya Samutsevich]

At 16, hungry to learn more, Nadia moved to the big city, Moscow. And there she started studying philosophy. But she was unimpressed by the art world.

[Anna Sinfield]

What I saw around me was mostly commercial art, which is way too boring. Commercial art is by definition something that is toothless. But for me, my idea was to provide an alternative to the commercial art scene and hopefully start movement.

[Katya Samutsevich]

And were you always interested in the sort of political sides of philosophy and art at that stage?

[Anna Sinfield]

I think I arrived to my interest in politics through my interest in avant garde art and their world building ambitions, which was political in the way that they wanted to build new society. And that sort of totality of art that wants to change life once and for all was really speaking to me. And I wanted to see something like that around me among young, hungry artists. I wanted them to change the world. I wanted them to change, well, at least our government, which was at the time moving towards authoritarianism.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Nadia was only 10 when Putin first became president and started centralizing power. Regional autonomy was reduced. Media outlets were brought under state control. And over the years, critics of the regime died under suspicious circumstances. Slowly but surely, Russia became more authoritarian and more nationalist. Two things that understandably have never sat comfortably with Nadia.

[Anna Sinfield]

It's dangerous not just for Russian people, but also for people abroad, for neighboring countries.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Nadia believed in Russia, but not Putin's Russia. She believed in culture and education, art, freedom. She had to do something. So in 2007, Nadia, together with the man who had become her husband and another couple, started a collective. They planned to arrange protests all over Moscow. So the choice of name was clear.

[Anna Sinfield]

Means war in Russian. It meant war against conservative art institutions and the political order.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Viner did things like storming the Russian White House, which is the heavily guarded government headquarters in central Moscow, by jumping over the six meter fence and running for their lives through the grounds.

[Anna Sinfield]

We were debating if we are going to be electrocuted once we reach the top or shot. That would not be fun. But it didn't happen. So all good. And the idea was to show that resisting is indeed an option. Imagine if a group of anarchists can freely do this very radical action without ever getting caught, without going to jail, without getting arrested. Then imagine what would happen if a million of people tried to do the same. And eventually we'll have real democracy.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Okay. A small goal.

[Anna Sinfield]

Yep.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Life for women and queer people in Putin's Russia had arguably gotten worse. Rights were rolled back and patriarchal rhetoric seemed to dominate politics and culture.

[Anna Sinfield]

And so eventually, four years in Vinat brought me to the need of starting something. This will be feminist oriented, that will focus not just on achieving democracy, but also on protecting rights of queer people, on making sure that gender equality is achieved in my country. And that's how Pussy Wright was born.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Wow. And how did you come up with the name? It's a great name.

[Anna Sinfield]

This started from Meenkat sitting in her apartment.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Kat is Yekaterina Samutzevic, who had also been part of Viner and had a pretty messy flat.

[Anna Sinfield]

Neither Kat or her dad cared about cleaning stuff up. If you open the fridge, you die from the smell.

[Katya Samutsevich]

It's September 2011, six months before Putin. Then prime minister is set to return for a third term as Russia's president. Nadia, who's now in her early 20s, knows what this means. More power for one, less democratic freedoms agency and rights for everyone else. So she and Kat are into something they're calling punk feminism.

[Anna Sinfield]

And we looked at this term broadly, and not just punk as music, but also like really bold and groundbreaking artistic moves. So we got really inspired by the riot girl movement.

[Katya Samutsevich]

The riot girl movement was actually a pretty big inspiration for me too. When I was in my early 20s, it was this DIY feminist music scene that was started in the Pacific Northwest in the early 90s. And I actually wrote one of my final music school essays about them after I was the only one who put my hand up. When the lecturer asked if anyone would call themselves a feminist, he said, watch out for this one. And everyone laughed at me. I obviously had to go on a feminist rampage after that. And the riot girl movement was the perfect outlet. The people at the heart of it were angry, but also playful. They made zines and sang punk songs about politics and sex and misogyny. The genre's high priestess, Kathleen Hannah from the BAM Bikini Kill had this famous slogan, girls to the front, meaning the girls stood at the front of shows while the dudes had to move to the back. In short, riot girl was the antithesis to my old lecturer and to Putin's Russia.

[Anna Sinfield]

We started to joke around what would happen if Russia had their own riot girl moment. We thought that it'll be cool to record a song of a Russian version of Red Girls, but we were visual artists. So me and Kat wanted to start a fake band and convince everyone that it's an actual band.

[Katya Samutsevich]

This fake band would put on guerrilla gigs to draw attention to the government's human rights violations and hypocrisy.

[Anna Sinfield]

We decided to call it pussyrec to bring a derogatory term for a woman for a girl that we are going to reclaim in the same way that word bitch. Queer punk was reclaimed.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Name sorted, great. And now everything else.

[Anna Sinfield]

So what do we need? What do bands do? And we were just like, let's watch some videos. And we went on website where people sell used stuff. In Russia, we didn't have money at all, but we bought a guitar that didn't play, an electric guitar that we used as props to create an image of a band.

[Katya Samutsevich]

They record their first song in Kat's bathroom.

[Anna Sinfield]

We didn't have smartphones at the time, so it was just a very cheap Olympus recorder. And we didn't have any knowledge on how to put sounds together. So it was very ugly. And that's punk.

[Katya Samutsevich]

That's diy. You're doing exactly how you should be.

[Anna Sinfield]

We weren't even able to put together a loop, like, in a continuous fashion. So there was this little pause in between of the loops so it would be like.

[Katya Samutsevich]

And that syncopation sounds like you're in jazz now. What's going on? That's very cool. But also, I mean, the sad fact is there's, like, nothing more punk band than being, like, a punk band who insists they're not a punk band, even if you weren't one, which is so cool. You've gone through the looking glass.

[Anna Sinfield]

Thank you.

[Katya Samutsevich]

On October 1, 2011, Nadia and Kat play the song they recorded during a presentation on punk feminism. They say it's by a new Russian punk band called Pussy Riot. And they call the song Kill the Sexist. The sexist that they're referring to is not explicitly Putin, but it is a comment on his ideology. And Pussy Riot want to start making a noise about the imminent return to presidency that he's planning. But they are just two people. This fake punk band needs more members and fast.

[Anna Sinfield]

We didn't have a lot of time. Just felt like we have to work every single day and try to at least fake that we have an actual movement because we didn't have any money. So we were mostly stealing stuff from supermarkets. Yeah, we lived by shoplifting. Then we started to work actually with our friends, punk musicians. And we told them, just write something shitty, like really quick in an hour, and we'll scream something on top. It was mostly me and Kat as the core, but we were good at art propaganda. We knew how to write press releases, how to contact journalists, like, work with professional photographers and videographers and put together videos. So it's like unheard of. Speed of production.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Would you be able to tell me about your very first protest that you guys did together?

[Anna Sinfield]

The first batch of protest actions was called Free the Cobblestones. It was the end of October in Moscow. It was already freezing cold, raining. Not fun to be outside. So we decided to invade Moscow subway. And we found places with this scaffolding being in the middle of the station and it looked just like the stage. So we would climb on that little platform, unpack our guitar that didn't play and connect the microphone that did work and make the action.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Wearing brightly colored mini dresses and ski masks to conceal their identities, Pussy Riots shout and dance on subway scaffolding and in crowded subway cars. They warn that ballots will be used as toilet paper in the approaching elections.

[Anna Sinfield]

And we did dozens of those in the subway and then compiled it all together in one video.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Pussy Riot's actions aren't designed to scare people. They're tricksters, inspiring hope. What they're doing is fun, but also dangerous because almost every single time they perform, they get arrested.

[Anna Sinfield]

Imagine cops run to the base of this scaffolding and there's Unless you learn how to fly, there is no way to escape. Some cops are nice, some cops are not. Some cops are punching you and dragging you around by your hair. And I was used to it.

[Katya Samutsevich]

I mean, did you not after you realized that happened the first couple times, did you not decide to perform on the floor where you could could make.

[Anna Sinfield]

A run for it that would not be beautiful?

[Katya Samutsevich]

I can't argue with art, but Putin did after the break A punk Prayer.

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[Nadia Tolokonnikova]

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[Katya Samutsevich]

2011, Putin's party united Russia won the parliamentary elections amid allegations of electoral fraud and a pre arranged role swap with the sitting president. Tens of thousands of Russians took to the streets to protest. They were the largest protests in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union in the 90s. Pussyright was there too. They shouted lyrics like Riot in Russia. Putin chickened out. You could find them screaming their protest songs in luxury boutiques and fashion shows atop expensive cars.

[Anna Sinfield]

And the idea behind it was Putin was throwing a lot of money to make people compliant to everything he does. And we went to these places where rich people in Moscow were hanging out at the time to warn them that One day, their lives are going to get complicated because of Putin.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Next on their target list was the Russian Orthodox Church. Nadia and Pussy Riot believe that the church's support of Putin created an unhealthy, authoritarian relationship between church and state. It lent a sort of moral and spiritual legitimacy to Putin as a divinely sanctioned leader. So Pussywright came up with a way to draw attention to would be dangerous. Lots of people would be appalled, but no one would be able to ignore it.

[Anna Sinfield]

On the day of the performance, it was really cold, not cozy, windy, gray. A lot of participants said the day of the action that they aren't going to be able to join. People felt unease.

[Katya Samutsevich]

It's February 21, 2012, and Pussy Riot are about to do a flash mob performance inside Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Right in front of the altar, they're going to sing Punk Prayer, which is the song you heard Nadia describe at the start of the episode. The song that calls on the Virgin Mary to become a feminist and banish Putin.

[Anna Sinfield]

We knew that we were touching a topic that is potentially radioactive. But we believe that because we do a symbolic, artistic protest, we don't punch anyone. We don't destroy anything. We should be fine as a priest.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Is literally offering sacraments to worshippers. Five Pussy Riot members in their signature ski masks and colorful dresses sing, kick and punch the air before the altar.

[Anna Sinfield]

It happened all very quickly. 40 seconds of performance. We got pushed away by the guards really quickly. They didn't make any attempt to arrest us because I think it was like, more like it was just a minor annoyance. Who are these crazy girls jumping up and down? And why did they do that? They took our piece of equipment, our little audio system that we're very proud of. So we were arguing with church security, like, motherfuckers, give us back our equipment.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Pussy Riot don't get their equipment back. And despite no arrests in the cathedral, Nadia knows things are about to get serious. She goes on the run, changing her location every day.

[Anna Sinfield]

We didn't use our phones or didn't use Internet.

[Katya Samutsevich]

We were anxious, and they're right to be. The news of their protest was making its way to the President himself.

[Anna Sinfield]

Putin personally gave an order to arrest us. And Putin gives an order means that the entire police system of Russia is looking for you. You don't know when the arrest is going to happen. You almost wanted it to happen, because at least it's some sort of clarity.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Notice the use of when, not if. Because after a week of trying to outrun the authorities, the arrest does Happen.

[Anna Sinfield]

It was me and my husband at the time. We went to buy presents for our daughter who was about to turn four years old next day. And we got surrounded by around 20 people in plain clothes. They yelled at us, they said, hands against the wall. They were very verbally abusive to me. And I think it came from the fact that they were not able to find us for a week. So it was relief. It was a relief for me and it was relief for them.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Nadia and fellow pussyright members Katsimutovic and Maria Aliokina are all sent to a detention facility to await trial.

[Anna Sinfield]

Once you're transported there, it's not a joke anymore. That's how it started.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Protests ripple out from Moscow. A YouTube video of punk Prayer goes viral at her Moscow concert. Madonna even dons a ski mask and dedicates her song Like a Virgin to Pussy Riot. And in late July, the trial starts.

[Anna Sinfield]

When it started, it became obvious that it's very accusatory. And the tone of the judge and the tone of all the participants from the government side was just so rude and so discriminatory to us. They told us that feminism is by definitions hostile to the Orthodox religion. And Orthodox religion is a key ideological system for Russia. So hence we are hostile not just to the religion, but to the entirety of Russia and Russian people that we were told that we are paid by Hillary Clinton to destroy Russia. They said that we cursed the entire country and thus we need to be burned at the stake. Some people say that we need to be whipped publicly on the Red Square.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Oh, my God.

[Anna Sinfield]

I realized that there is nothing really here to lose. I'm already. I'm already going to jail, that's for sure. And so we just turned it into a circus.

[Katya Samutsevich]

They're in a glass case being infuriatingly positive and doing some devilish twitching. Of course.

[Anna Sinfield]

It was a lot of fun. Seriously.

[Katya Samutsevich]

In Nadia's closing statement, she describes Pussy Riot as freer than the prosecution because, quote, we can say what we want, while they can only say what political censorship allows. Nadia, Kat and Maria are convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred and sentenced to two years in prison. And despite her tough exterior, Nadia is scared.

[Anna Sinfield]

Two years in jail seemed like a lot because by that time I was in jail only for six months and it felt like eternity. And imagine that I have to stay locked up three times is more. And then I'm going to be moved from Moscow to penal colony, which basically gulag labor camp. That was terrifying.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Yeah, well, tell me about that. Tell me about your time in prison.

[Anna Sinfield]

I went through 12 different facilities. I was not an easy prisoner, just demoralized. I didn't feel like myself. I forgot what I was before. I think it was just deep, deep trauma that really destroys your image of yourself, your identity. And I was forced to work. All the time that I wasn't sleeping, I was performing different tasks, like I was sewing police uniforms. Then I was digging trenches. Then I was moving heavy, giant stones around penal colony. This is how the Russian prison authorities are controlling the prisoner. They make sure that they are exhausted, physically and emotionally to the point of turning into walking corpses. And that's who I became in a labor camp. It took me a year or two to realize that I'm still the same person who I was before jail, that I still have a voice to protest against the prison system. They've started hunger strike. Wrote an open letter protesting against the prison conditions. A couple of weeks after I started my hunger strike, I spent months in different prison facilities and prison cars. It was a long term, one month without any connection with my relatives or lawyers. They thought by then that I'm probably dead. And I thought, who knows what's happening with me? But I ended up in Siberia, which was awesome. I ended up in Krasnoyarsk, which is the city that I visited every single summer. This is the city where my grandmother lived, the city between the walls.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Just like the gay pride parade Nadia sang about in church, she, too, had been sent to Siberia in shackles.

[Anna Sinfield]

I was delighted. Well, as the kind of the best thing that could ever happen to me. I came back home.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Yeah, in a way I'm sure you never expected.

[Anna Sinfield]

No, you only get to know where you are once you're there. They transport you pretty much as a sack of potatoes.

[Katya Samutsevich]

But outside of the prison walls, Nadia is no sack of potatoes. She's become a powerful symbol. Amnesty International names her a prisoner of conscience. Calls to free Pussy Riot echo around the world, along with a furious international debate about freedom of expression. Then finally, after 18 gruelling months in prison, on December 23, 2013, Nadia and Maria are released early.

[Anna Sinfield]

Two months before the end of my term. Putin decided to sign an amnesty to release not all political prisoners, but just a few of them. And I think he targeted specifically those who have been talked about the most.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Some people believe that Putin's amnesty is just some big propaganda stunt designed to bolster Russia's image before they host the 2014 Winter Olympics. But Putin isn't the only one planning for the Games.

[Anna Sinfield]

We got out and went right back into action. We wrote a song, putin will teach you how to love the motherland, and it was dedicated to political prisoners, those who remained jailed, and to corruption to increasing authoritarianism in Russia.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Pussy Riot will be there at the Games in Sochi with the newly released Nadia. She's an international symbol of radical resistance now, and everyone's waiting to see what she'll do next. After the break, all eyes on Nadia.

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[Katya Samutsevich]

In February 2014, only two months after Nadia was released from prison, Pussy Riot traveled to Sochi to protest the Olympic Games there.

[Anna Sinfield]

Even before we jumped on the plane to go to Sochi, starting from Moscow, we got followed by the cops constantly. We were there, targets number one at a time when we got released. So every move, every step is being watched, every word has been listened.

[Katya Samutsevich]

I mean, after spending all of that time in the penal colonies, like having a really tough ride of it, you know, it sounds like it was awful, but you're not afraid to be back out protesting, doing more actions.

[Anna Sinfield]

I was terrified. I was shaking. It was so scary for me to go back to jail. But it felt like we had to make this statement.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Under an Olympic banner, armed with a plastic guitar, Pussy Riots sing their newest protest song. Putin will teach you how to love the motherland. But mid song, they're attacked, beaten and dragged by militiamen wielding whips and pepper spray. Bloodied yet defiant, they keep going.

[Anna Sinfield]

We're getting arrested five times a day. But we've realized that it's almost impossible to do actions in the same style we've done before because we became so high profile as activists.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Wow. What was that like staying there when, I mean, it just seems like you were being completely haunted by the police.

[Anna Sinfield]

Pretty surreal. And you feel yourself like a paranoid, but with one important note, that you are actually being followed.

[Katya Samutsevich]

It's weird, but Nadia is not going to admit defeat.

[Anna Sinfield]

There was a lot of stuff to be done in Russia. We started a media project that's called mediazona. And the idea behind it was to tell the people of Russia what's happening in prisons, in police departments, and tell about the most important political trials of that time. Now it's the number one independent media outlet in Russia, which is truly incredible given that it is started by a bunch of punks.

[Katya Samutsevich]

But eventually you left Russia. Could you tell me why and how that happened?

[Anna Sinfield]

I think I would never leave it if I had to make a conscious decision to leave. It was just a series of circumstances, a series of arrests, meet people who I cared about, who got in the mix just because of me, just because they were working with me. And I felt like I'm responsible for that. I felt very guilty. So I felt like I need to move away, just take a step back to protect people I love. And that pushed me to stay for some time out of Russia because I still wanted to create art, just didn't want to put people in dangerous situation. By associating with me outside of Russia.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Nadia could use her reputation to be even louder and without the police literally breathing down her neck. In 2023, she put on her first solo gallery exhibition in LA, an immersive installation which she called Putin's Ashes.

[Anna Sinfield]

Putin's Ashes is a response to Putin's full scale invasion to Ukraine. For the first two months of the invasion, I could not think about making art. I was doing everything I can to help with resources or to do actual help. And then after a few months, I felt like I need to make an artistic statement. And it was a group of women from Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. We all came together to curse Vladimir Putin. The ultimate art piece is the performance that is documented in a video that's called Puss and Ashes, accompanied with the song that I wrote.

[Katya Samutsevich]

In the piece, Nadia can be seen leading the women, clad in fishnets and red ski masks, in a ritualistic ceremony to burn a large portrait of Putin and collect its ashes. Putin didn't like it one bit.

[Anna Sinfield]

My parents got visited by police and asked some questions. Then there were a couple of searches at my friend's apartment who still lived in Russia. And to my ex mother in law.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Nadia was declared a foreign agent by the Russian court. She was put on the country's most wanted criminal list.

[Anna Sinfield]

Now I'm arrested in absentia. So I knew that if I go back to Russia, I'm going to be arrested immediately. And even now, when I hear Left Russia, I feel unease about it. The only meaningful connection that I've ever had in terms of my art and geography was the connection between me, my art, and Russia.

[Katya Samutsevich]

I think I get it. Your heart's still in Russia, right? Your heart and your art.

[Anna Sinfield]

I'm very attached to the place. I'm very attached to my language, and I would much rather speak in Russian right now. I never think that I'm the smartest or the most talented or the most connected. Definitely not the most powerful. But I have this dedication and always think, what if more talented musicians did what Bruce Red did? But I stick to this DIY principle. Follow your dreams and damn the consequences.

[Katya Samutsevich]

After years of imprisonment, harassment, and attacks, Nadia's commitment to see a better Russia without Putin has never wavered. And I just know she won't ever stop as long as he's in power. It's nothing short of awe inspiring. I can't believe I'm already saying this, but this is the last episode of the first season of the Girlfriends Spotlight. Thank you so much for listening. And if you haven't heard the other seven amazing stories, then do go back and listen. And if you like them, tell your friends. We'll be back with more incredible stories of women winning soon. But in the meantime, coming up next on the Girlfriends, a brand new original limited series with me, your girl, Annie Sin. Kelly Harnett spent over a decade in prison for a murder she says she didn't commit.

[Anna Sinfield]

I'm 100% innocent.

[Katya Samutsevich]

While behind bars, she learned the law from scratch. He goes, oh, God.

[Anna Sinfield]

Harnett, jailhouse lawyer.

[Katya Samutsevich]

And as she fought for herself, she also became a lifeline for the women locked up alongside her. You're supposed to have your faith in.

[Anna Sinfield]

God, but I had nothing but faith in her.

[Katya Samutsevich]

So many of these women had lived the same stories.

[Anna Sinfield]

I said, were you a victim of domestic violence?

[Katya Samutsevich]

And she was like, yeah, but maybe Kelly could change the ending.

[Anna Sinfield]

I said, how many people have gotten other incarcerated individuals out of here?

[Cindy Crawford]

I'm gonna be the first one to do that.

[Katya Samutsevich]

This is the story of Kelly Harnett, a woman who spent 12 years fighting not just for her own freedom, but her girlfriend's, too.

[Anna Sinfield]

I think I have a mission from God to save souls by getting people out of prison.

[Katya Samutsevich]

The Girlfriends, jailhouse Lawyer. Listen. From July 14th on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Anna. You've reached the girlfriend's hotline. Leave your story after the tone. Okay, gotta go.

[Anna Sinfield]

Love ya. So I have this friend who I've been friends with for almost nine, ten years now, and although we've only actually lived in the same place for three of them, me and her have built this routine while living apart from each other. And it'll be that we'll wake up and we'll call each other, we'll eat our meals together. There was a time where I was over at this guy's house that I was seeing and I think he went to pee. And in that 45 seconds, I managed to fit in a call just to update her about my whereabouts. I mean, yesterday she gave me a tour of what was in her fridge. I guess it sounds creepy in some sense, but I think it's a really just nice and stable and beautiful connection that has grown and somehow deepened in the distance and not in spite of it.

[Katya Samutsevich]

If you have your own story like the one you just heard and you'd like the whole girlfriend's gang to hear it, then please send it to us. You can record it as a Voice memo under 90 seconds, please, and email it straight to thegirlfriendsnovel Audio. Please don't include your name. We're keeping things a little anon. We want stories like the time you find still showed up to your kid's birthday party even though she was really seriously hungover. Or the time she didn't get mad when you spilled a mug of coffee all over her white sofa. Not the white sofa. I want stories that are meaningful or silly. I want big. I want small. I'm desperate to hear them, so send them over. This season, the Girlfriend Spotlight is supporting the charity Womankind Worldwide. They do amazing work to help women's rights organizations and movements to strengthen and grow. If you'd like to find out more or donate to help them secure equal rights for women and girls across the globe, you can go to womankind.org.uk.

[Anna Sinfield]

The.

[Katya Samutsevich]

Girlfriends Spot is produced by Novel for iHeart Podcasts. For more from Novel, visit Novel Audio. The show is hosted by me, Anna Sinfield. This episode was written and produced by Amalia Sortland. Our assistant producer is Lucy Carr. Our researcher is Zayana Yusuf. The editor is Hannah Marshall. Max o' Brien and Craig Strachan are our executive producers. Production management from Joe Savage, Cherie Houston and Charlotte Wolf. Sound design, mixing and scoring by Nicholas Alexander and Daniel Kempson. Music supervision by Jake Otyvich, Nicholas Alexander and Anna Sinfield. Original music composed by Louisa Gerstein and Gemma Freeman. The series artwork was designed by Christina Lemkul. Willard Foxton is Creative Director of Development and special thanks to Katrina Norvell, Carrie Lieberman and Will Pearson at iheart Podcasts as well as Carly Frankel and the whole team at wme.

[Nadia Tolokonnikova]

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[Anna Sinfield]

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[Nadia Tolokonnikova]

This is an iHeart podcast.