Pussy Riot band member Maria Alyokhina escapes Russia dressed as food courier after criticising Putin | World News

Political activist and member of the Russian band Pussy Riot has reportedly fled the country disguised as a food courier after criticising Vladimir Putin.

Maria Alyokhina and her fellow band members first got here to the eye of the Russian authorities after staging a protest against the Russian president inside Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral in 2012.

Despite being sentenced to two years in jail for their activism, the group continued to speak out against the Kremlin chief, with Ms Alyokhina remaining decided to battle Mr Putin's system.

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After being launched from jail, she continued her activism and set up a information outlet centered on crime and punishment in Russia, referred to as Mediazona, with another member of the band.

In April, Russian authorities positioned her below home arrest as they tried to stop those in the country who opposed their invasion of Ukraine.

The 33-year-old was then ordered to spend 21 days in a penal colony.

However, the band chief managed to evade the Moscow police by disguising herself as a food courier and leaving her phone behind as a decoy.

She was then in a position to cross into Lithuania after looking for the assistance of an artist from Iceland, who secured her travel paperwork.

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Evaluating her story to a "spy novel", Ms Alyokhina told The New York Times: "I was pleased that I made it, as a result of it was an unpredictable and massive kiss-off to the Russian authorities.

"I still do not perceive fully what I've achieved."

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Ms Alyokhina added: "I do not think Russia has a right to exist anymore.

"Even before, there have been questions on how it's united, by what values it's united, and where it is going. However now I don't assume that could be a question anymore."

In 2019, fellow bandmate Nadya Tolokonikova spoke to Sky News about her time in a prison camp and protests going down in Russia.