Anti-Putin Punk Activists Release New Music Video

Suspicions that footage of Pussy Riot activists being manhandled by the police in Sochi, Russia, on Tuesday and whipped by Cossacks on Wednesday might help the feminist collective make its point about state repression were proved correct on Thursday, with the release of the group’s latest music video, “Putin Will Teach You How to Love the Motherland.”

The latest music video from Pussy Riot, the Russian protest group, “Putin Will Teach You How to Love the Motherland.”

The video from the performance artists, who looked to American Riot Grrrl bands of the 1990s for inspiration, weaves together footage of the women being assaulted by the authorities this week with images of them dancing in front of the Olympic rings outside Sochi’s city hall on Wednesday.

The clip was posted on YouTube with an English translation of the lyrics and a dedication, which calls for “freedom to all political prisoners,” including demonstrators who were detained during street protests on May 6, 2012, and the Sochi activist Evgeny Vitishko, who was sentenced to three years in jail.

Follow Robert Mackey on Twitter @robertmackey.