Update: Putin’s Pussy Riot Headache

Vladimir Putin unwillingly responded to reporters’ questions about Pussy Riot during his official visit to England. . When pressed by persistent reporters, he declared that he did not want really want to speak about this issue: “There is nothing good in this case. But I do not think it is necessary to judge them sternly for what they have done. I hope that they will draw their own conclusions about what they have done.”

In typical Putin fashion, Putin washed his hands of responsibility. It is up to the courts: “I hope the courts make the right decision. (This after the Khodorkovsky judge unwillingly announced the decision telephoned to him from above.). (Stalin also could do nothing to save his victims from the Soviet legal system. It was their decision not his!)

Putin went on to say that  Pussy Riot are lucky that they committed such a heinous crime in a civilized country like Russia: “I think that if the girls had committed such sacrilege in Israel – many of you know, there they have some pretty tough guys – they would not have gotten away. If this had happened in the Caucasus – you do not have to go very far -- and if they had insulted some Muslim practice, we could not have succeeded in protecting them.”

When asked whether he discussed Pussy Riot with Premier David Cameron: “No,  we did not mention it.”  

Back home, prominent members of the Russian Society of Advocates issued an open letter in support of  Pussy Riot. They wrote that criminal proceedings against the women contradicts Russian law and is a step towards the destruction of a rule of law in Russia.”

As we say: Putin has stepped into it. He had to parry questions about the imprisonment of a girl punk band on a state visit to a major country, and he has to face a rare bit of push back from his own legal profession, which appears to be embarrassed to work in a country with no laws. 

A question for Putin to consider: What would happen if one of the punk rock girls dies in prison?