‘Never ask a Russian woman how she is’

EKR, on your new album you’re taking on the tech giants. What bothers you about them?

EKR: How dependent we’ve become on them. How much privacy we’re willingly sacrificing. How transparent we’ve become. And how slavishly we follow them.

As a musician, you’re dependent on these corporations yourself.

Yes, just take the streaming platforms, for example. Many people don’t even realise that their record collection is now merely virtual and that they’re actually just borrowing it. If they switch providers, it’s gone. Then you’re back to racking your brains trying to remember what that brilliant jungle track from 1994 was called. We can thank my highly esteemed namesake Daniel Ek and all the other creeps who keep us tied to them with their subscriptions.

You could always say goodbye to the streaming platforms.

Believe me, I’ve thought about doing it more than once. But then, of course, that would have consequences for my music too. A significant percentage of my listeners would simply drop off. That’s just the way it is.

I recently found out the hard way just how dependent we are on these systems. My mobile was stolen whilst I was abroad.

It’s actually quite nice, isn’t it? No mobile. You can enjoy the freedom.

That’s what I thought at first, too. But without a mobile, you’re lost these days. No online banking, no Uber, no sat-nav, no way of being reached.

True, that’s probably a bit too romantic a view.

And once you’ve shaken hands with Steve Jobs, you’re bound to be dependent on his legacy. Otherwise, all of a sudden, certain apps stop working or you can’t access important data.

Yes, exactly. That’s the problem. We’ve made ourselves completely dependent on these systems.

The tech giants promise us that artificial intelligence will make our lives even easier. And ultimately, they’re the ones leaving people out on the street.

If AI really is that good, then we can replace the CEOs. That’s how all those business owners will save the most money. Let the workers do the work and sack the management! I mean, if you sack someone working at the Migros till, you’re not really saving much. What’s more, that would remove precisely what makes working at the till something a robot couldn’t do: the interaction. A chat at the till. A mutual connection. Otherwise, we might as well do away with shops altogether and just order online. So: get rid of the CEOs, keep the workers.

So it’d be better to replace Elon Musk, Sam Altman and Peter Thiel.

Maybe that’s already happened! Actually, we really ought to check whether they’ve long since been replaced by robots.

In the digital world, you really don’t know who you’re communicating with anymore. Is it actually Sandra replying to me in the mobile provider’s WhatsApp chat?

(Laughs.) Yes, and you wouldn’t even be sure anymore if Sandra had switched on the camera!

So the deception is becoming ever more perfect. But what does this technology actually do for us?

What has AI actually improved so far? Have quantum leaps already been made in medicine because of it? Has the problem of poverty been solved? No, but you can take a picture of a woman and have her depicted naked. Brilliant. You can simply scam and fake things better. For example, during our video call, I could pretend I’m sitting in a private jet, and thus create the illusion that I’m raking in millions with my music.

And the technology is also suitable for surveillance.

Exactly. Just look at what’s happening in England or the US. Cameras everywhere that can recognise faces.

Is Pussy Riot actually successful?

Eric: The concerts are well attended. I’m amazed at how many people really want to listen and understand. After the show, lots of people come to talk to us. Some have tears in their eyes.

Masha: Nobody knows what will ultimately bring down this dictatorship. But I believe that every single person and every group that carries on in some way makes a difference. People in the former Soviet Union grew up with the idea that their voice is worthless. We were brought up to sit quietly in a corner and obey orders. Anyone who speaks out gets into trouble. And yet I see people everywhere who carry on regardless.

But the majority of your audience lives in the West.

Masha: Yes. But we’re trying to build mutual understanding on a human level. The bridge between the West and countries like Russia has broken down. In the West, these regions are portrayed as dangerous, gloomy places. But that’s not the case. People live there. And for me, it’s important to use our story to help Ukraine. Through the show, we’re raising money for a children’s hospital in Kyiv and supporting an organisation that provides food to people in villages on the front line.

Eric: Our art won’t topple the dictatorship on its own. But dictators invest a great deal of energy in censoring and banning art. Apparently, they, too, believe that art can make a difference.

At the start of the war, it was often said in the West that Russia couldn’t sustain it economically for long.

Masha: Oh really? (bitter laugh) We’re in the fifth year of the war! Navalny and his team had compiled a list of around 6,000 names – Russians who, in their view, should have been subject to sanctions. Nothing happened. And believe me: Russia has the resources to continue this war. They have virtually unlimited supplies of gas and oil. But there is one positive point: the people in Russia have had enough. It’s just that they have no weapons for a revolution and hardly any means of organising themselves. Nevertheless, they are finding ways to show that they want peace. Some Russians have even joined the Ukrainian army.

And what if negotiations take place with Putin to end the war?

Masha: If someone like Trump comes along, negotiates with Putin and carves up Ukraine – do you really think Putin will just stop after that? Nobody gives a shit about Article 5 of the NATO Treaty. To us Russians, it all sounds rather funny.

Back to the action in the cathedral. You’ve been rehearsing it for months. Can you rehearse a revolution?

Masha: (laughs) You’re asking me if you can rehearse a revolution? That’s a funny question. You should ask Yevgeny Prigozhin. Do you remember his march on Moscow in June 2023? He marched from Ukraine towards Moscow with his Wagner mercenaries. Finally, when he was just 200 kilometres from Moscow, the Belarusian President Lukashenko rang him on behalf of the Kremlin and, in his pleasant voice, asked him to please call it off. So they turned back. Two months later, Prigozhin’s plane crashed.

But of course, people do prepare. Nadya and I were released from the penal colony at the end of 2013. Shortly afterwards, we flew to Kyiv. The fires were still burning on the Maidan; people were still in the square. We spoke to them. Yes, they had prepared themselves – but only in response to what was happening. Every revolution is a reaction. People go out to demonstrate peacefully, the state reacts, and they react to that in turn. And at some point, the moment comes when people say: ‘Enough is enough.’ Any experience of political action can be useful at such a moment.

Why, then, do people in Russia put up with so much? Is it fear?

Masha: It’s a fear that has been passed down through generations. People in Russia are afraid of losing their lives. People in the West are afraid of losing their standard of living.

Alina: First you’re afraid of losing your standard of living. Then your life.

Masha: There’s an old Russian joke: a father and his son are taken to a penal colony. The son looks around and asks, ‘Dad, where are we?’ And the father says, ‘I don’t know. I’m not interested in politics.’

‘Riot Days’ at the Dynamo in Zurich on 24 September 2026

A Wednesday morning in early September, 9 am. A video call with five members of the ‘Riot Days’ ensemble is scheduled. The group led by Pussy Riot activist Maria ‘Masha’ Alyokhina tells their story in the show of the same name – from the famous protest at Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, through imprisonment and repression, to their escape from Russia. But at first, no one appears.

Then the first person joins the call. The camera remains off. The name displayed: Alina.

Good morning! Where did you wake up this morning, Alina?

Alina Petrova: In the town of Wehlen in Germany, near the Czech border. I’ve been an artist in residence here for a while.

What are you doing at ‘Riot Days’?

Alina: I’m a composer and multi-instrumentalist. I open the show alone on stage with my violin. I’ve been with Pussy Riot since 2022, when I left Russia.

And tomorrow?

Alina: Tomorrow I have to carry on to Berlin. My residency ends here. I’m actually always on the move. I don’t have a home anymore. Until last year, I was married and lived in Barcelona for almost three years. Then my husband left me. For the past nine months, I’ve been moving from one place to the next. To be honest: it feels absolutely rubbish. And I can’t go back to Russia. In 2025, I was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment.

Why?

Alina: Among other things, because I joined Pussy Riot. That was a conscious decision, and I don’t regret it. In Russia, I’m now considered a terrorist and an extremist. The Russian Embassy won’t issue me with any more documents. I can’t even get a certificate of civil status or a criminal record extract. Physically, I exist, but on paper I practically no longer do.

How do you cope with that?

Alina: Those aren’t even my only problems. I have multiple sclerosis. All of this together is a bit much for a girl weighing 37 kilos. But what can I do? So much of it is beyond my control.

What helps you to carry on?

Alina: Sport. I do calisthenics and go bouldering.

Three more participants join the call at the same time: Maria ‘Masha’ Alyokhina, Taso Pletner and Eric Breitenbach.