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

Political activist and member of the Russian band Pussy Riot has reportedly fled the country disguised as a food 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 against the Russian president inside Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral in 2012.

Despite being sentenced to two years in prison for their activism, the group continued to talk out against the Kremlin leader, with Ms Alyokhina remaining determined to struggle Mr Putin's system.

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

In April, Russian authorities positioned her underneath home arrest as they tried to stop these within the nation who opposed their invasion of Ukraine.

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

Nevertheless, the band leader managed to evade the Moscow police by disguising herself as a food courier and leaving her telephone behind as a decoy.

She was then able to cross into Lithuania after in search of the assistance of an artist from Iceland, who secured her travel paperwork.

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

"I still don't understand utterly 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 were questions on how it's united, by what values it's united, and where it is going. But now I don't assume that is a question anymore."

In 2019, fellow bandmate Nadya Tolokonikova spoke to Sky News about her time in a prison camp and protests taking place in Russia.