Pussy Riot band member Maria Alyokhina escapes Russia dressed as food courier after criticising Putin | World News

Political activist and member of the Russian band Pussy Riot has reportedly fled the nation disguised as a food courier after criticising Vladimir Putin.

Maria Alyokhina and her fellow band members first got here to the attention of the Russian authorities after staging a protest towards the Russian president inside Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral in 2012.

Regardless of being sentenced to two years in jail for his or her activism, the group continued to speak out against the Kremlin chief, with Ms Alyokhina remaining decided to battle Mr Putin's system.

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After being released from prison, she continued her activism and set up a news outlet centered on crime and punishment in Russia, known as Mediazona, with one other member of the band.

In April, Russian authorities positioned her underneath house arrest as they tried to stop these within the country who opposed their invasion of Ukraine.

The 33-year-old was then ordered to spend 21 days in a penal colony.

However, the band chief managed to evade the Moscow police by disguising herself as a meals courier and leaving her phone behind as a decoy.

She was then able to cross into Lithuania after in search of the assistance of an artist from Iceland, who secured her travel paperwork.

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Evaluating her story to a "spy novel", Ms Alyokhina instructed The New York Occasions: "I used to be completely satisfied that I made it, because it was an unpredictable and big kiss-off to the Russian authorities.

"I nonetheless do not perceive utterly what I've finished."

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Ms Alyokhina added: "I don't assume Russia has a right to exist anymore.

"Even earlier than, there were questions about how it is united, by what values it is united, and where it is going. But now I do not think that may be a query anymore."

In 2019, fellow bandmate Nadya Tolokonikova spoke to Sky News about her time in a jail camp and protests taking place in Russia.