Full Breakdown
Former Pussy Riot Activist Rita Flores Details Forced FSB Recruitment and Escape
8/25/2026, 12:53:39 AM
Core Event: Forced Recruitment, Assassination Plot, and Flight
In early 2023, following a February raid on her Moscow apartment, former Pussy Riot member Rita Flores (real name Margarita Konovalova) says the Federal Security Service (FSB) coerced her into signing a cooperation agreement. She was assigned the codename “Harley” and tasked with gathering intelligence on Russian artists and political dissidents. Between early 2024 and June 2025 she received monthly payments of 50,000 rubles (? $600) after an initial disbursement of 30,000 rubles (? $360). In mid-2025 the FSB allegedly ordered her to lure ex-boyfriend and activist Pyotr Verzilov to a Serbian café for kidnapping and murder, offering 3 million rubles (? $36,000). Flores reports that she stalled the plan, sought help from human-rights lawyer Dmitry Zakhvatov, and escaped Russia with assistance from exiled businessman Leonid Nevzlin earlier in August 2026.
Background & Context
Flores’s activism with the feminist punk collective Pussy Riot placed her under long-standing scrutiny by Russian authorities. The FSB’s recruitment tactics, as described by Flores, involved apartment searches, passport confiscation, and threats of violence against her family. She says the pressure intensified when the service attempted to use her to eliminate Mediazona co-founder Pyotr Verzilov, a prominent critic of the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine.
Data & Statistics
- Monthly FSB payments: 50,000 rubles ($600) (early 2024 – June 2025).
- Initial payment: 30,000 rubles ($360).
- Proposed fee for Verzilov assassination plot: 3 million rubles ($36,000).
Official Statements & Responses
Pyotr Verzilov, co-founder of Mediazona, responded to Flores’s revelations: “The FSB has been trying to kill me for the last 10 years in various parts of the world,” he said.
The Moscow Times notes it could not independently verify Flores’s claims.
Verbatim Quotes
- “They began recruiting me, threatening me in every possible way, humiliating me, saying some very unpleasant things, threatening to kill my family and telling me that I would never in my life be able to prove who killed my mother,” — Rita Flores
- “The FSB has been trying to kill me for the last 10 years in various parts of the world,” — Pyotr Verzilov, co-founder and activist
- “That was the point of no return. Before, I thought I just needed to wait to get my passport back and flee. But then I realized how far they were willing to go,” — Rita Flores
