Former Pussy Riot Member Says She Was Recruited by Russian Security Service to Spy on Dissident Artists
Rita Flores says she was forced to gather intelligence on artists and activists and was offered 3 million rubles for a plot against Pyotr Verzilov.
- Former Pussy Riot member Rita Flores revealed she was coerced into working for the FSB for three years, operating under the codename "Harley" to gather information on dissidents before fleeing Russia earlier this month.
- Following a February 2023 raid on her Moscow apartment, officers coerced Flores into signing a cooperation agreement, threatening her with criminal prosecution and the murder of her relatives, warning she would "disappear without trace" if she refused.
- Flores's primary job involved compiling a "report" on dissidents for further "investigation," though she sabotaged assignments for two years by faking feuds with targets like artists Philippenzo and Pavel Krisevich while receiving 50,000 rubles monthly.
- Refusing to lure Pyotr Verzilov to a cafe in Serbia for a kidnapping, Flores sought help from lawyer Dmitry Zakhvatov to "delay" the plot and flee Russia with assistance from exiled businessman Leonid Nevzlin.
- Pussy Riot was declared an extremist organization by the Kremlin last year; The Moscow Times noted it could not independently verify claims made by Flores regarding the FSB operations or the assassination plot.
60 Articles
60 Articles
Former Pussy Riot Member Says She Was Recruited to Spy on Artists by the Russian Government
Rita Flores, a former member of the protest art collective Pussy Riot, alleged in an interview on Monday that members of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) had recruited her to spy on dissident artists. In the interview, which was conducted by Flores’ lawyer for Port Media—a website established by exiled Russian […]
Ex-Pussy Riot Member Says She Was Recruited by Russia to Spy on Artists
Margarita Konovalova, who went by the alias Rita Flores as a member of the Russian punk feminist band and anti-Putin artist collective Pussy Riot, recently claimed that she was coerced into spying on other dissident artists for the last three years by the Russian national security service (FSB) after they threatened her and her family's lives. Having fled Russia with the help of her lawyer earlier this month, Konovalova spoke freely about her ex…
▶️ Rita Flores, former member of Pussy Riot, the Russian anti-Putin group, has escaped from Russia. For three years, the activist was forced to work for the FSB, the Russian intelligence service that replaced the Soviet KGB. As an intelligence agent, she was asked to contribute to the assassination of her former partner and fellow member of the group. – “They threatened to kill my family”: Forced into FSB recruitment, a former Pussy Riot member …
Rita Flores reports how the Russian secret service made her the lead.
A former member of the Pussy Riot claims to have been forced by the FSB to monitor opponents and prepare for an assassination. She finally fled Russia, fearing in turn that she would become a target of the regime...
The agents threatened his family and claimed that he could be prosecuted or even made "disappear without a trace" if he refused to cooperate.
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