Pussy Riot member arrested on the way to theater awards ceremony where she is among the nominees

Russian police have arrested Pussy Riot member Veronika Nikulshina. Pyotr Verzilov, another member, told Mediazona about the incident.

The leaders of Theater To Go, Alexey Yershov and Maxim Karnaukhov, were arrested along with Nikulshina.

Update: Police quickly released all three individuals without any charges. It remains unclear why they were detained in the first place. During the brief arrest, stage director Kirill Serebrennikov spoke out on their behalf.

All three were preparing to drive to an awards ceremony for the Golden Mask prize that is set to take place in the Bolshoi Theater.

A Theater To Go show called Poe.Tri was nominated for a Golden Mask prize in the experimental theater category. Nikulshina plays a role in the show. She had previously participated in Pussy Riot’s “The Police Enter the Game” performance, running onto the field during the final game of the 2018 World Cup.