the last iteration of this theme landed the musicians in a hard labor gulag where they were subjected to routine sexual assaults
It wasn’t the theme of the first song that landed them in the gulag as much as the live venue they chose. The rebuilt Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow is fraught with a tangled mass of historical and cultural meaning for Putin’s right-wing authoritarian supporters.
Choosing it for their ad hoc concert was a deliberate (and well-deserved) middle-finger to Putin and the corrupt church that supports him. It was also a brave move that gives Pussy Riot a permanent spot in the Badass Hall of Fame.
