Maria Alyokhinabetter known as Mashais one of the founders of the controversial Russian punk group pussy riotone of the most oppositional feminist groups against Vladimir Putin, who have been persecuted and imprisoned for speaking out against Kremlin abuses.
Currently, Masha is in exile in Iceland, after managing to escape from Russia disguised as a delivery girl due to the surveillance she was subjected to by the Russian regime.
The reason for her flight from Russia after having been imprisoned several times since 2012 is because since Putin began the invasion of Ukraine, she openly spoke out against the war and therefore the persecution against her has intensified. .
“Putin is a war criminal and an international fugitive who should be arrested and tried before an international court of war. And that’s all,” said the activist in an interview with the newspaper The Independent.
“From the bench he should be forced to listen to what all the witnesses of this have to say. war in Ukraine and all the victims that he has tortured in our country during all these years,” he added.
The artist has a five-year-old son and assured that she dreams of returning to her country, but she wants the child to grow up in a different Russia. Meanwhile, she continues to protest Putin through his music as she has for more than a decade.
We are just writing a new song against this war and Putin. It is our way of protesting and reflecting on the current situation and showing our rejection of Russian propaganda,” Masha told El Independiente.
“I think it is not time for words but for actions against him. Putin is a maniac and a dictator handbook, a person about whom there should not be divergent opinions. Dictator is the shortest and most appropriate definition,” he added.
Masha He also took advantage of the interview with El Independiente to complain to some European governments that in the past underestimated the threat posed by the former KGB agent and even met to do business with him.
“I don’t know exactly what to say to those people who think there is something attractive about a strong and repressive state. Perhaps they are also fascists, but it is a false strength that only shows weakness. The West was wrong about Putin, but it is never too late to open your eyes, ”he told The Independent.
“This war started in 2014, with the annexation of Crimea because Putin could not forgive the wind of revolution that blew then in maidan. Then came the Russian occupation of eastern Ukraine in the Donbas. None of these actions received an adequate response from WestMasha denounced.
“The contest has continued since then, at times without much activity. Ukraine was pushed to sign the Minsk agreement at the beginning of 2015″, he added.
For the artist, the events taking place today in the Ukrainian territory could have been avoided if the reaction of the allies had been more forceful in 2014 when Putin decided arbitrarily to annex the territory of Crimea.
“I believe that if sanctions at the level of those launched now had been applied in 2014, all this nightmare and this war would not have happened. Putin would not have the resources to pay for it today. The start of the war a year ago forced European politicians to start moving. Better that than waiting until the end of the world, but it was a bit late,” Masha said in an interview with The Independent.
“Even now the sanctions are not appropriate because they are still there is Russian gas and oil supplying Europe. Every ruble obtained from this supply is a new breath of encouragement to bomb cities and kill people in Ukraine and torture others inside Russia,” he denounced.
Despite the dark picture that a year of war has left in Ukraine, where there have been reports of more than 7 thousand dead civilians on the Ukrainian territory, more than 8 million people displaced to various countries of Europe and an untold number of people who have been victims of human rights abuses, the activist does not lose hope that her country and Ukraine can regain freedom.
“The victory in the Ukrainian war is the main and most basic step towards the freedom of Russia,” he said.
“It is our reason to speak loud and clear. We want to explain the connection between what happens in Russia and Ukraine. We call for concrete actions to stop funding Putin’s state based on our own experience,” Masha added in The Independent.
The feminist activist did not miss the opportunity to express her admiration for the leader and president of Ukraine, who has endured the Russian onslaught for a year since the military invasion began.
“Volodimir Zelensky is a hero, a true president of his country. He supports his army by physically being in the most dangerous places. All of Ukraine is fighting against the biggest country in Europe and against a crazy dictator with absurd imperialist ambitions,” Masha said.
The leader of the Pussy Riot assured that they will continue to insist on their form of protest to contribute with their art to change what is happening both in Ukraine and in Russia.
“We are using all the ways we know to protest first and then show how an authoritarian regime turned into a totalitarian one. I am convinced that we have helped many people to know something that they did not know before, ”she said.
“It can be quite useful for everyone to be aware of how a State can progressively take away each and every freedom from society, because all this nightmare that we are living now did not precipitate in an instant but is simply a path to the future. hell that we undertook a long time ago ”, he sentenced.
Finally, Masha told the Spanish newspaper that she dreams of performing with her punk band the day Putin is hypothetically taken to a International Court.
“We want to act at the opening of the court. I want my country to be free. I want to apologize to Ukraine on behalf of all Russians and do everything we can to make them forgive us. I want my son to see another Russia. I want all political prisoners to be released as soon as possible. Basically I want freedom and justice. And, if it can be, may it come true soon.
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Source-www.infobae.com