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 got here to the eye of the Russian authorities after staging a protest in opposition to 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 against the Kremlin leader, with Ms Alyokhina remaining determined to fight Mr Putin's system.

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After being launched 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 placed her below house arrest as they tried to cease those 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 chief managed to evade the Moscow police by disguising herself as a meals courier and leaving her telephone behind as a decoy.

She was then in a position to cross into Lithuania after searching for the assistance of an artist from Iceland, who secured her travel paperwork.

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Comparing her story to a "spy novel", Ms Alyokhina instructed The New York Times: "I used to be comfortable that I made it, because it was an unpredictable and large kiss-off to the Russian authorities.

"I nonetheless don't understand fully what I've finished."

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Ms Alyokhina added: "I do not assume Russia has a proper to exist anymore.

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

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