Olga Borisova (L) and Maria Alyokhina, photo: social media

Russian law enforcement officers have searched the homes of relatives of Maria Alyokhina and Olga Borisova, members of Russian band Pussy Riot, independent news outlet Mediazona reported on Thursday.

Mediazona said the searches related to criminal charges against Pussy Riot for spreading “false information” about the Russian military motivated by political hatred. The other defendants in the case are Diana Burkot, Alina Petrova and Taso Pletner, also group members and activists.

According to Mediazona, the searches, carried out in Moscow and St. Petersburg, had led to at least one person being summoned for questioning. It is unclear whether relatives of Burkot, Petrova and Pletner also had their homes searched.

Mediazona said that in the course of the search of Alyokhina’s mother’s home in Moscow, the security forces looked through her private messages on Telegram and brought up a Pussy Riot video that forms part of the basis for the criminal case against her. Investigators also attended the home of Alyokhina’s father, who lives separately and is seriously ill.

Five members of Pussy Riot were placed on the Russian Interior Ministry’s wanted list in July. In February, a Moscow court arrested them in absentia for spreading “false information” motivated by political hatred.

The charges are based on the video for their anti-war song Mama, Don’t Watch TV and their protest action at the Pinakothek der Moderne museum in Munich in April 2024, during which they shouted anti-war slogans and called Vladimir Putin a war criminal, while one group member urinated on his portrait.