Russia Outlaws Pussy Riot Group as Crackdown on Critics Deepens
Members of Russian punk group Pussy Riot speak to journalists while leaving the police station of Adler, near Sochi, Russia in 2014.
Photographer: Andrej Isakovic/AFP/Getty ImagesRussia declared the punk band Pussy Riot an extremist organization on Monday, according to a lawyer for the group, as the Kremlin continues a deepening crackdown on critics of President Vladimir Putin.
Moscow’s Tverskoy District Court granted an application by the Prosecutor General’s Office to ban the group as extremist in a closed court hearing, said Leonid Solovyov, the attorney. “We will appeal,” he said. “The state is gradually trying to suppress those who openly oppose its decisions.”