Pussy Riot says it’s behind World Cup protesters

One of the field invaders got a high-five out of Mbappe.

Jul 15, 2018, 6:01 PM UTC

Stewards drag an invader off the field during the 2018 FIFA World Cup Final between France and Croatia on July 15, 2018 in Moscow, Russia. The Pussy Riot later took credit for the protest.

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

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Emily Stewart covered business and economics for Vox and wrote the newsletter The Big Squeeze, examining the ways ordinary people are being squeezed under capitalism. Before joining Vox, she worked for TheStreet.

Pussy Riot says it is behind the four people who ran onto the field during the World Cup final between France and Croatia on Sunday.

The Russian feminist protest group and punk band, which rose to global prominence for speaking out against Russian President Vladimir Putin, took responsibility for the act on Twitter, saying it was a protest against “illegal arrests” and the lack of political competition in Russian.

Four people ran onto the field during the 52nd minute of the World Cup’s final on Sunday between France and Croatia wearing police uniforms. One of the members of the Croatian team, Dejan Lovren, helped a male protester be detained. One woman high-fived French player Kylian Mbappe.

Pussy Riot rose to prominence in 2011 and 2012 for their anti-Putin provocateur performances. Two of the band’s members were jailed in 2012 for two years after they were found guilty of hooliganism.

Putin was present at Sunday’s match and watched it alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, and FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

Pussy Riot said the stunt was meant to salute Dmitri Prigov, a Russian artist and Soviet Union dissident who died 11 years ago. Prigov often used the imagery of a policeman in his poetry — a legacy the World Cup protesters paid homage to by dressing as police.

On its Facebook page, the band explained the tie-in with Prigov and listed out the demands behind the stunt, including freedom for political prisoners and permission for political competition in Russia.

The group also mentioned Oleg Sentsov, a Ukrainian filmmaker and outspoken critic of Russia’s annexation of Crimea who was sentenced to 20 years in Russian prison on terrorism charges. He declared a hunger strike in May that has been an ongoing political backdrop to Putin’s otherwise triumphant World Cup.

US President Donald Trump, who will meet with Putin for a summit in Helsinki on Monday, congratulated France for its World Cup victory in a tweet on Sunday. He also congratulated Putin.

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