Pussy Riot band member Maria Alyokhina escapes Russia dressed as food courier after criticising Putin | World Information

Political activist and member of the Russian band Pussy Riot has reportedly fled the country disguised as a meals courier after criticising Vladimir Putin.

Maria Alyokhina and her fellow band members first came to the eye of the Russian authorities after staging a protest towards the Russian president inside Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral in 2012.

Despite being sentenced to 2 years in prison for their activism, the group continued to speak out in opposition to the Kremlin chief, with Ms Alyokhina remaining determined to combat Mr Putin's system.

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After being released from jail, she continued her activism and set up a news outlet targeted on crime and punishment in Russia, known as Mediazona, with one other member of the band.

In April, Russian authorities placed her beneath home arrest as they tried to cease these in the nation who opposed their invasion of Ukraine.

The 33-year-old was then ordered to spend 21 days in a penal colony.

Nonetheless, the band leader managed to evade the Moscow police by disguising herself as a meals courier and leaving her phone behind as a decoy.

She was then capable of cross into Lithuania after searching for the assistance of an artist from Iceland, who secured her journey paperwork.

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Evaluating her story to a "spy novel", Ms Alyokhina advised The New York Occasions: "I used to be glad that I made it, as a result of it was an unpredictable and big kiss-off to the Russian authorities.

"I nonetheless do not perceive fully what I've performed."

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Ms Alyokhina added: "I don't assume Russia has a right to exist anymore.

"Even before, there have been questions about how it's united, by what values it's united, and the place it is going. But now I do not suppose that is a question anymore."

In 2019, fellow bandmate Nadya Tolokonikova spoke to Sky Information about her time in a prison camp and protests going down in Russia.