Pussy Riot to perform in support of Ukraine on the sidelines of German legislative elections

Wearing yellow and blue balaclavas like the Ukrainian flag, dissident Russian punk band Pussy Riot performed Saturday at a pro-Ukraine rally in Berlin, held on the eve of German parliamentary elections. The organizers of the event, dissident Russians, called on the election winner to continue supporting Kiev.

On Sunday, February 23, Friedrich Merz 's conservatives clearly won the legislative elections in Germany on Sunday. The election also marks an unprecedented rise of the far right in a tense context, where Germany and Europe are stunned by the shattering announcements of Donald Trump's administration on the war in Ukraine.

During its show on Saturday, Pussy Riot highlighted Buchha , a Ukrainian city where Russian forces have been accused of committing a massacre against the civilian population. But also "the screams of Mariupol " , a port city that experienced a terrible Russian siege.

The protest group wore T-shirts with the words "Support Ukraine" . Pussy Riot's most famous action was in February 2012 when several members sang a "punk prayer" against Vladimir Putin in a Moscow cathedral. Three members of the group were sentenced in August 2012 to two years in a camp, notably for "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" .

"Those who vote for Putin's friends are voting for the fall of Europe."

A sentence written on a placard during the demonstration.

Some 200 people braved Berlin's winter cold on Saturday to watch the punk band perform at the famous Brandenburg Gate, chanting "no to war" in Russian. The crowd also listened to Kevin Lick, a German-Russian who was freed last year from a Russian prison in a mass prisoner swap with the West. Charged with treason, the 17-year-old Lick said Saturday that peace talks without Ukraine were "unacceptable and dangerous."

Many protesters carried signs against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and the left-wing populist BSW party, both of which have criticized Germany's military support for Ukraine. "Those who vote for Putin's friends vote for the fall of Europe," read one sign, which had both parties' names crossed out.

"As a Russian citizen, it is important for me to be here and show that I am against the Russian regime," said a 36-year-old protester, Vyacheslav, who did not want to give his name. Germany was the second-largest donor to Ukraine, behind the United States, under the outgoing government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz.