# Former Pussy Riot member says she escaped Russia after three years of forced FSB work

https://mins.news/en/item/30901

- The Kyiv Independent, 2026-08-24 18:57 UTC
- World
- Original: https://kyivindependent.com/former-pussy-riot-member-escapes-russia-says-fsb-forcibly-recruited-her/

> Former Pussy Riot member Rita Flores said Russia’s FSB forcibly recruited her as an intelligence asset in 2023 and held her passport, threatening her and her family while ordering her to gather information on artists and activists. She said the agency later tried to make her lure Mediazona co-founder Pyotr Verzilov to Serbia for a murder plot. With a lawyer’s help, Flores delayed the demands and eventually escaped Russia.

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