A Moscow court has declared the feminist group Pussy Riot an extremist organization, Reuters reports. In addition, the group's activities were banned within Russia.
The decision was made in a closed court session at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office. The exiled members of the group spoke out against Moscow's war in Ukraine, and in September they were convicted in absentia of spreading disinformation about the Russian army. The group, whose members were branded by authorities as "foreign agents", has denied the charges, saying they are politically motivated.
Following the court ruling, Pussy Riot is now considered an extremist organization, similar to "Jehovah's Witnesses" and the political organization of the late opposition figure Alexei Navalny. This would make it easier for authorities to prosecute the group's supporters in Russia.
As a reason for requesting that the group be designated as extremist, prosecutors cited two of its past high-profile actions, which they described as a threat to state security. One of the incidents cited was a musical protest the group organized against President Vladimir Putin in a Moscow cathedral in 2012. The other was the group's invasion of the pitch during the 2018 World Cup.
"If telling the truth is extremism, then we are happy to be extremists," wrote in X, the group's founder Nadia Tolokonnikova.
Separately, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office has designated Deutsche Welle (DW) an "undesirable organization". The classification was requested by the Russian parliament, the State Duma, back in August. DW now joins several other organizations such as Free Europe, Reporters Without Borders, and others.