On February 21, 2012, the Pussy Riot group held a punk prayer service "Mother of God, Drive Putin Out!" in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, protesting against the President of the Russian Federation and against the merger of the Russian Orthodox Church with the state. After that, two camps were formed - supporters and opponents of the action.
On February 21, 2012, four Pussy Riot members entered the pulpit in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, danced for a few seconds, crossed themselves and tried to pronounce the words of the song. Soon the guards of the temple took them out. Later, the filming of the action was supplemented with a soundtrack and footage filmed elsewhere, where the group performed a song with electric guitars. In the song, the girls ask the Mother of God to drive out the president.
The girls' action caused a huge resonance in the society. Many were outraged. On March 3, 2012, the three soloists were arrested, and on August 17, they were sentenced to two years in prison. In court, the indictment was built around an alleged motive of hatred and religious enmity. But the group members reject the version of such a motive. Pussy Riot did not admit their guilt and said that the maximum of their act could be called an administrative offense, but not a criminal one.
However, during the consideration of the case in the Khamovniki court, the girls apologized to the believers, saying that they had no intention of insulting them. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova explained that the motives of the punk prayer were political. She noted that the activists did not utter offensive words against God, the church or believers. She also admitted that it was possible that the choice of the temple as the location for the action was a mistake, but they did not think that their actions could offend anyone.
Maria Alekhina, in her conciliatory letter to believers, asks to forgive her those who are offended for her actions and words and writes that she did not intend to offend anyone's religious feelings.
Sami Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina and Ekaterina Samutsevich position themselves as believers in God and say that they often attended church. But at the same time, they do not always approve of the manifestations of the church, and also oppose the close interaction of the highest clergy from the ROC with the state authorities, the commercial and political use of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
