Olga Kurachova and Veronika Nikulshina have been banned from entering Belarus. The two members of the Russian protest punk rock group Pussy Riot will not be welcomed in our country till May, 2020.
However, the girls were allowed to get on a plane to Kyiv, where they were interviewed by local border guards and let into Ukraine.
Пограничный контроль в рф: спросили, наклейка ли у меня во лбу или нет. У Ники не спросили ничего. В Белоруссии: просили ждать и ничего не объясняли. Сказали, что въезд в страну нам запрещён. На самолёт всё же пустили. Пограничный контроль на Украине: прошли собеседование. Успех.
The Belarusian authorities failed to give reasons for the denial. It might be caused by the upcoming European Games.
“‘Batska’ [Father, a nickname of Alyaksandr Lukashenka] doesn’t want us,” Kurachova said on Twitter.
In the spring of 2019, Veronika Nikulshina has been repeatedly detained by the Russian police. The pressure stepped up after Pussy Riot’s action in July, 2018. During the World Cup final match in Moscow, four Pussy Riot activists dressed in uniforms held a protest action ‘Policeman Coming Into Play’: they ran out to the playing field urging the Russian authorities to release political prisoners and stop political persecution.
Russian policeman to protesters at World Cup final: I wish it were 1937
