‘We are obliged to keep fighting’

The activist talks about the situation of artists in Russian prisons, the similarities between Stalin and Putin and why giving up resistance is not an option.

Maria Alyokhina, how do you assess the consequences of Donald Trump's re-election?

It is foreseeable that Trump will force Ukraine into so-called ‘peace negotiations’. If this resulted in a dictated peace, Putin would gain several years to rearm and prepare an attack on another country. It could affect any country that has a border with Russia, such as Poland, Finland or the Baltic states. Apart from that, the question arises as to what Trump's re-election means for Europe politically. We are seeing growing support for far-right leaders, parties and movements in many countries, be it Poland, Italy, Austria or Germany. The list could go on. It is a great challenge for all of us that Trump's election success threatens to further strengthen authoritarian movements in Europe.

How are artists currently faring in Russia?

People who stay and speak out critically, including artists, are in prison, being poisoned and killed. It is enough to speak out against Putin or to describe the war in Ukraine as such. Those who go abroad can save themselves, but lose everything: their homeland, their families and friends, their jobs. This is the path taken by completely different Russians, from activists to IT specialists. Many of the refugees live in Berlin. I am a member of the advisory board of Artists at Risk (AR), an organisation that has already been able to rescue hundreds of artists. But it is becoming increasingly difficult to leave Russia and obtain visas for the West.

You are touring the world with concerts and an exhibition, and the show is currently making a stop in Germany.

As part of the exhibition ‘Velvet Terrorism: Pussy Riot's Russia’ at the Haus der Kunst in Munich, we are showing how Russia has changed from an authoritarian state to a fascist state over the past ten years. Even if the show reflects our personal view, I hope that it allows people to feel a little of what we felt. Since the war in Ukraine, there has been harsh censorship. Nobody will kill you immediately if you call the war a war. But as soon as someone speaks out, that person must be prepared to be arrested every day and at any time and go to prison for years. It's a different reality - and a severe trauma. I was born in the perestroika era and grew up in the 1990s. Back then, Russians no longer wanted to be slaves and finally wanted to live in freedom. But nowadays it is no longer even possible to demonstrate in favour of this desire for freedom. As in China, all social media are under surveillance. This creates an atmosphere of fear.

How do you counteract this from exile?

In Moscow, people drink wine and have parties. You don't see any blood. But it's impossible to talk about this fascist occupation of Ukraine. Our task as a collective is to draw attention in the West to the fact that Russia's regime is brutally killing people, often even while they are being transported to prison. Those affected are transported from one prison to another for four to six weeks. Soon they no longer know where they are or how many prisons they have already been through. The 27-year-old journalist Vika Roshchyna recently died after 15 months in Russian captivity when she was transferred from a prison in the southern Russian city of Taganrog to Moscow. Her main topic was the war in Ukraine.

You have been through this form of torture themselves ...

The special wagons for the transports consist of tiny cells without windows. They date back to the Stalin era. Killing a person who no one knows where they are is easy and has been tried and tested in Russia for a long time. As far as that is concerned, there has been no innovation since Stalin. The system will not change because Putin is proud of this legacy of the Soviet Union and of the autocrat Joseph Stalin - the country's greatest tyrant, who killed our culture and all my favourite artists. This should be a warning to everyone.

Do you think Putin can still be stopped?

Russia can look back on a very difficult and bloody history. Putin has rebuilt the Soviet machinery of oppression. It is corrupt, cynical and stupid. To stop Putin, people need to wake up and understand that this regime only understands the language of violence. The international community should cut off his gas and oil revenues. It is now important for Germany to set a good example. I see many Russians who have lost hope. But we are obliged to keep fighting - even without hope.