Nadia Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina part ways with Pussy Riot

Pussy Riot’s two most prominent members, Nadia Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina are no longer part of the activist group, reports say.

The pair, who were recently released from Russian jail, appeared at an Amnesty International Concert in New York last night, where they were introduced by Madonna. This drew criticism from their fellow bandmates, who later released a statement clarifying the two former members’ position.

“We are very pleased with Masha’s and Nadia’s release,” the open letter reads. “We are proud of their resistance against harsh trials that fell to their lot, and their determination by all means to continue the struggle that they had started during their stay in the colonies.”

It continues: “Unfortunately for us, they are being so carried away with the problems in Russian prisons, that they completely forgot about the aspirations and ideals of our group—feminism, separatist resistance, fight against authoritarianism and personality cult, all of which, as a matter of fact, was the cause for their unjust punishment.”

“We lost two friends, two ideological fellow members,” the statement adds. “But the world has acquired two brave, interesting, controversial human rights defenders”.

You can read the full letter here and watch Madonna introducing the pair from last night’s concert below.

[via Pitchfork]