Two members of the punk band Pussy Riot are on the run and now out of Russia — thus avoiding prosecution for protest performances against Vladimir Putin, the group said yesterday.
Pussy Riot tweeted that the two activists had fled Russia and are ‘‘recruiting foreign feminists to prepare new protest actions,’’ but didn’t mention where they went.
It’s believed that at least 12 other members of the group still remain in Russia.
Five members of the feminist music collective delivered a provocative performance inside Moscow’s main cathedral in February, protesting Putin’s rule and cozy relationship with the Orthodox Church.
The women wore their trademark, garishly colored balaclavas, making it hard for police to identify them; only three were arrested.
After a controversial trial, the three were convicted of hooliganism and sentenced to two years in prison on Aug. 17. Days later, Moscow police said they were searching for the other band members.
Even as the judge was reading the verdict in a Moscow courtroom, one of the band members who had escaped arrest played Pussy Riot’s latest song, ‘‘Putin Sets the Fires of Revolutions,’’ from the balcony of an apartment building across the street.
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