The leader of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot has told a prankster posing as President Zelensky he is free to spend millions she raised for humanitarian aid on Ukraine’s army.
Nadya Tolokonnikova, 34, now living in exile in the USA, was sentenced in 2012 to two years in jail for an outrageous performance at a Moscow cathedral.
Now in a bizarre prank pulled by two Russian hoaxers she has revealed what can be done with USD 7 million (GBP 5.5 million) she raised for civilian aid.
The singer was recorded telling the hoaxer playing Zelensky: “You can publicly declare that all the money will go to humanitarian needs.
“But between me and you, spend them as you like.”
She added that she was “definitely ready to support military spending.”
And the punk performer pledged: “We would send one hundred percent of the proceeds to support the military needs of Ukraine.
She added: “It is necessary to help the military precisely to provide targeted help to the detachment [where her ex-husband Pyotr Verzilov serves], which we know what they are doing; we personally will help them buy machine guns.”
Tolokonnikova apparently thought she had been talking to Zelensky and his former Culture Minister Alexander Tkachenko.
Instead she was talking to pranksters Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov who uploaded the conversation on social media where it spread like wildfire across Russia.
They had first pretended to be asking Tolokonnikova to take part in a Band Aid style concert in Kyiv for Russian and Ukrainian bands.
But she turned them down saying her Russian nationality made her “radioactive” to Ukrainians.
She later told ‘Zelensky’ how he should send a Ukrainian fighter from to the USA to boost support.
She said: “A macho, masculine man who would tell American ‘vatniks’ [derogatory term for Russian supporters] what needs to be defended in their homeland.”
Tolokonnikova told how she is ready to burn her Russian passport in exchange for a Ukrainian one.
The singer later dismissed the interview as trolling.
She said: “I’m trying to support democracy and save lives, the Russian state is busy with pranks and trolling.
“I don’t have time for this, damn it, any opportunity I have to support Ukraine, I will do it.”
The head of the Federal Project on Security and Anti-Corruption (FPBC), Vitaly Borodin, asked the Prosecutor General’s Office to investigate Tolokonnikova’s claims.
If they are confirmed, she could be arrested and face up to 20 years in prison if she ever returns to Russia.
The singer has previously made the country’s most wanted list after Moscow City Court arrested her in absentia for “disrespecting” President Putin for a Pussy Riot song titled ‘Putin’s Ashes’.
