Ex-Pussy Riot activist says FSB coerced her into informing on artist Pavel Krisevich
Former Pussy Riot member Rita Flores has revealed that Russia's FSB forced her in 2023 to gather information on artists and activists, including performance artist Pavel Krisevich. Krisevich, who learned of it only from her interview, shared his account of their friendship and its fallout.
Former Pussy Riot member Rita Flores, whose real name is Margarita Konovalova, said on August 24 that FSB officers recruited her in early 2023. According to Flores, security officials threatened to kill her family, and under that pressure she agreed to gather information on contemporary artists and political activists, including members of Pussy Riot.
Among her assignments, Flores was ordered to draw out information from street artist Philippenzo (Filipp Kozlov) and performance artist Pavel Krisevich. She claims she tried to hint to Krisevich and his wife, Elena, that a new criminal case was being prepared against him, and that she indirectly helped him leave Russia in late 2025. She herself was unable to leave the country until mid-August 2026.
Krisevich's account
Meduza asked Krisevich about his friendship with Flores and what changed after learning of her FSB ties. He said the interview came as complete news — Flores had given no indication beforehand and had simply gone quiet. He recalled that Flores had always insisted she wanted to stay in Russia and live a quiet family life, and that nothing seemed suspicious to him at the time since he was in a similar position himself.
Krisevich does not recall Flores picking fights with him or using his wife to pressure him to leave, as she described in her interview, though he allows there may have been hints he missed. He does remember her repeatedly urging him to contact gallerist Marat Gelman — something that struck him as suspicious in hindsight, given an April 2025 search connected to Gelman's case, though Flores denies acting deliberately.
Krisevich himself left Russia in December 2025 after a series of administrative arrests, saying it was a direct warning from FSB officers in a holding facility, not Flores's influence, that ultimately convinced him. He acknowledged that three and a half years in a penal colony left him more attuned to signs of informants, but said he does not want to stigmatize Flores, noting that both of them lived under a system built to break people.
