Maria Alyokhina, Russian punk activist: The price of political art was prison
The Interview12 Nov 2025

Maria Alyokhina, Russian punk activist: The price of political art was prison

Vitaly Shevchenko speaks to Maria Alyokhina, founding member of the Russian punk activist group Pussy Riot, about the power and the price of protest.

Pussy Riot came to the world’s attention with its Punk Prayer, an angry anti-Putin anthem performed in a Moscow church. Maria Alyokhina spent two years incarcerated in a penal colony as a result. It was worth it, she says, to show the world what life under President Putin was like.

She was freed under an amnesty ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, but her ongoing activism saw her living under surveillance and then house arrest, eventually fleeing Russia in a dramatic escape. Today, she continues to challenge Putin’s regime from outside her home country.

Thank you to the Ukrainecast team for its help in making this programme. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: Vitaly Shevchenko Producer: Lucy Sheppard Editor: Justine Lang

Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.

(Image: Maria Alyokhina. Credit: Ina Fassbender/AFP)

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(1958)

Michelle Bachelet, UN Chief candidate: Time for a woman to lead

Michelle Bachelet, UN Chief candidate: Time for a woman to lead

“For 80 years, we only have men [lead the UN] and I think it is not about women because she is a woman … The idea is a woman because she has the experience, the leadership, the capacity, the knowledge...

30 Aug 23min

Kristina Wilfore: Male anxieties being weaponised

Kristina Wilfore: Male anxieties being weaponised

“It's a distortion of real pressures. When I'm analysing trends around men…they are wanting to lean into what being a man means. In many cases strength, loyalty, protection. Those are not bad values. ...

27 Aug 23min

Joe Ngai, McKinsey: Domestic rivalry drives Chinese firms

Joe Ngai, McKinsey: Domestic rivalry drives Chinese firms

“More Chinese companies are put out of business by other Chinese companies. Chinese companies are not put out of business because of Western companies, so this whole competition is not, from a Chinese...

25 Aug 23min

María Fernanda Espinosa, UN secretary general candidate: The UN risks becoming irrelevant

María Fernanda Espinosa, UN secretary general candidate: The UN risks becoming irrelevant

“Sometimes we confuse activity with impact. And here I think the way we measure results should be different. How many lives has the UN saved? How many people has the UN helped to live out of poverty? ...

23 Aug 23min

Mopreme Shakur on Tupac: The sensitive man behind the music

Mopreme Shakur on Tupac: The sensitive man behind the music

“I think Pac was actually traumatised by the poverty. You know, poverty can be very, very traumatic. Having no lights, having no food from time to time, having no clothes while you’re going to school,...

20 Aug 22min

Hunter Biden: Father’s pardon not good for country

Hunter Biden: Father’s pardon not good for country

“Was it good for our Constitution? Was it good for the American people? Was it good for my dad's legacy? No, on all counts. It was not. All I know is that I'm grateful that he did it for me.” BBC Ne...

18 Aug 23min

Celeste Saulo, WMO: Extreme weather is the new normal

Celeste Saulo, WMO: Extreme weather is the new normal

“[This weather] is a new norm, and we need to make sure that we are prepared to deal with that…these extreme wildfires put more responsibility onto improving our forecasting tools to support the briga...

16 Aug 23min

Dmitry Muratov, journalist: Putin can’t claim victory in Ukraine

Dmitry Muratov, journalist: Putin can’t claim victory in Ukraine

"There are repressions, political repressions, against freedom of speech, against elections, against the rights of citizens to hold mass events. To such an extent that we don't know what the real publ...

13 Aug 22min

Populärt inom Politik & nyheter

aftonbladet-krim
svenska-fall
p3-krim
rss-krimstad
en-runda-till
aftonbladet-daily
flashback-forever
politiken
rss-sanning-konsekvens
rss-vad-fan-hande
kungligt
rss-krimreportrarna
motiv
svd-ledarredaktionen
rss-frandfors-horna
rss-flodet
fordomspodden
spar
rss-expressen-dok
krimmagasinet