Updated <\/span><\/p>\nMay 10, 2022, 12:02 pm ET<\/span><\/p>\n<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nMs. Shtein had decided to leave Russia a month before, also evading restrictions on her movement by sneaking out in a delivery-service uniform. Her decision came after someone posted a sign on the door of the apartment she shared with Ms. Alyokhina accusing them of being traitors.<\/p>\n
Ms. Alyokhina and Ms. Shtein were once imprisoned for Instagram posts calling for the release of political prisoners in Russia. In February, Ms. Alyokhina was killed to 15 days for \u201cpropaganda of Nazi symbolism\u201d over another Instagram post, this one from 2015, that criticized Mr. Putin’s ally, the Belarusian dictator Aleksandr G. Lukashenko. Ms. Shtein was detained at the same time on similar charges.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are scared because they cannot control us,\u201d Ms. Alyokhina said.<\/p>\n
By the time she arrived at Belarus’s border with Lithuania, she had a Lithuanian visa that she tried to use with her Russian domestic ID, as Russia had confiscated her passport. By then she had been placed on Russia’s \u201cwanted\u201d list.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In her first attempt to cross, Ms. Alyokhina was held by Belarusian border guards for six hours before being sent back. On her second try, the incredulous officer on duty just sent her away.<\/p>\n
But on the third try, she got through. Ms. Alyokhina had allies outside the country working to find her a path to freedom. One was the Icelandic performance artist Ragnar Kjartansson, a friend who convinced a European country to issue Ms. Alyokhina a travel document that essentially gave her the same status as an EU citizen. The country’s officials asked that it not be named for fear of diplomatic repercussions.<\/p>\n\nRussia-Ukraine War: Key Developments<\/h2>\n\n<\/section>\n
The document was smuggled into Belarus for Ms. Alyokhina to use. While there, she avoided hotels or anywhere she would need to show proof of identity, which could tip off the people searching for her.<\/p>\n
Ms. Alyokhina eventually boarded a bus to Lithuania with the document in hand. She laughed when she described how much better she was treated by the border guards when they thought of her as a \u201cEuropean,\u201d rather Russian.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cA lot of magic happened last week,\u201d she said. \u201cIt sounds like a spy novel.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fact that she was able to get out of Russia and Belarus was a reflection, she said, of chaotic Russian law enforcement.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom here it looks like a big demon, but it is very disorganized if you look from the inside,\u201d she said. “The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Ms. Alyokhina says she hopes to return to Russia. But no one has any idea how that could happen, when even the most dedicated are imprisoned or forced into exile.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Every day in Vilnius, new members of the group were arriving, fleeing Russia and joining for rehearsals for the European tour.<\/p>\n
After a few days, Ms. Alyokhina traveled to Iceland with some other group members to visit Mr. Kjartansson, who arranged for them to rehearse in the building that once housed the country’s High Court. .<\/p>\n
Ms. Alyokhina asked Mr. Kjartansson and Bjork, a relative of his, to perform at events organized by pro-Ukrainian organization when Pussy Riot performs in Iceland. The answer, Mr. Kartjansson said, was a resounding \u201cYess!\u201d<\/p>\n
In Vilnius, Ms. Alyokhina’s phone buzzed with messages of support and relief that she was now “safe” after the weeklong journey. Ms. Alyokhina chafed at these well-intentioned expressions, which she said were off the mark.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf your heart is free,\u201d she said, \u201cit doesn’t matter where you are.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Valerie Hopkins reported from Vilnius, and Misha Friedman from Reykjavik, Iceland.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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