Former FSB Pussy Riot Member Lifts Lid on Russia Escape
Rita Flores says FSB officers threatened her mother and pushed her to help target activist Pyotr Verzilov over three years.
- Former Pussy Riot member Margarita Konovalova, also known as Rita Flores, revealed last month that the Russian Federal Security Service recruited her to spy on Kremlin critics after agents threatened her.
- Agents threatened to open a criminal case over her Instagram posts criticizing Russian killings in Ukraine and to kill her mother, forcing Flores to confess, "I believed they could do everything they said."
- Describing her handlers, Flores noted a junior officer named Ivan who acted friendly, contrasted with a senior officer she called "the Jacket," who warned: "if you go abroad they'll find you immediately and kill you."
- The FSB ordered Flores to arrange a meeting in Serbia with activist Pyotr Verzilov, a former Pussy Riot member fighting for Ukraine, where they intended to kidnap and kill him.
- After three years of cooperation, Flores fled Russia in August, noting the chilling effect on the art world where artists now avoid strong statements because "we were forbidden from saying anything.
21 Articles
21 Articles
AFTER fleeing Russia, Rita Flores revealed that the FSB forced her to spy and plan the assassination of activist Pyotr Verzilov in Serbia.
Pussy Riot activist Rita Flores was part of the Russian secret service. She told the Guardian that she was forced to cooperate.
At the end of August, Rita Flores revealed herself as a former informant for the Russian domestic intelligence service FSB: Now the former Pussy Riot activist has revealed details of how her handlers blackmailed her.
The 29-year-old woman interviewed by the Guardian after fleeing Russia in August (ANSA)
Rita Flores tells in an interview with the "Guardian" how Putin's "Fsb" has moved him to betray his colleagues of the dissident: "Two agents threatened me and my family, I was afraid"
Rita Flores has given her first interview since fleeing Russia to the British newspaper The Guardian.
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