The Moscow City Court on November 21 issued an arrest warrant for a founding member of the Pussy Riot protest group, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, on a charge of "insulting believers' religious feelings."
The court's ruling came three weeks after a lower court in Moscow refused to issue the arrest warrant for the activist, who is currently outside of Russia.
In late March, the Interior Ministry added Tolokonnikova to its wanted list without saying what exactly she was wanted for. Media reports said then that Tolokonnikova was wanted for unspecified online comments.
In December 2021, the Russian Justice Ministry added Tolokonnikova to its registry of "foreign agents." Russian authorities have used the controversial law on "foreign agents" to stifle dissent.
Pussy Riot came to prominence in 2012 after three of its members were convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" for a stunt in which they burst into Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral and sang a "punk prayer" against Vladimir Putin, who was prime minister at the time and campaigning for his subsequent return to the Kremlin.
Tolokonnikova and bandmate Maria Alyokhina had almost completed serving their two-year prison sentences when they were freed in December 2013 under an amnesty. The two dismissed the move as a propaganda stunt by Putin to improve his image ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics that were held in the Russian resort city of Sochi.
While in prison, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were recognized as political prisoners by domestic and international rights watchdogs. Amnesty International named the two activists prisoners of conscience due to "the severity of the response of the Russian authorities."
After the Pussy Riot stunt, Russian authorities adopted a law criminalizing what it characterized as "insulting believers' religious feelings."
Alyokhina and another Pussy riot member, Lyusya Shtein, fled Russia last year amid pressure from the authorities over their public protests against Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Several members of the protest group were sentenced to up 15 days in jail several times in 2021-22 over taking part in protest actions and unsanctioned rallies.