STOCKHOLM (Sputnik) — Sweden has granted asylum to two members of the Russian Pussy Riot protest group, Lusine Djanyan and Aleksei Knedlyakovsky, local media reported on Wednesday.
Djanyan and Knedlyakovsky were granted asylum on Tuesday after a Swedish court overruled a decision by Sweden's Immigration Office that rejected their 2017 asylum request.
"I am happy that my children will grow up in safety, especially considering the developments at home [in Russia]," Djanyan told SVT broadcaster.
When applying for asylum, Knedlyakovsky cited a 2016 incident, when he was jailed in Russia for 15 days after hanging a cross on a statue depicting the chief of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission, a secret Soviet police organization, in Moscow.
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The feminist punk band Pussy Riot rose to controversial world fame with its provocative behaviour and political protests largely leaning on shock value and guerrilla tactics.
Their most notorious performance was a 2012 Putin-critical "punk performance" at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, which many found sacrilegious.
In the summer of 2018, Pussy Riot members stormed the pitch during the Football World Cup final between France and Croatia.
