Former Pussy Riot member escapes Russia after 3 years of forced work for FSB
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Editor's Note: This article was updated on Aug. 26, 2026, to include a statement by Pussy Riot co-founder Nadya Tolokonnikova.
Former Pussy Riot member Rita Flores was forcibly recruited by Russia's Security Service (FSB) as an intelligence asset for three years before she was able to escape Russia, she said in an interview with Port Media on Aug. 24.
According to Flores, whose real name is Margarita Konovalova, the FSB recruited her in 2023 after conducting searches of her apartment.
"They began recruiting me, threatening me in every possible way, humiliating me, saying some very unpleasant things, threatening to kill my family and telling me that I would never in my life be able to prove who killed my mother," Flores said.
"They attacked me personally, telling me how disgusting and horrible I was, that they would turn me into the biggest Satan in all of Russia."
The FSB initially ordered Flores to provide information on artists and political activists both within and outside of Russia and took her passport so she couldn't leave the country, she said. According to Flores, they reportedly wanted her to help develop some into fellow "assets" and to help line up new targets for criminal cases.
In an Instagram post, Flores described those three years as being defined by "prolonged depression... complete, unrelenting derealization, PTSD from being followed and surveilled... several attempts at suicide, and so, so, so much more."
The pressure from the FSB ramped up when they tried to force her to help lure Mediazona co-founder and activist Pyotr Verzilov to Serbia so they could murder him.
According to Flores, she contacted lawyer Dmitry Zakhvatov afterward and managed to stall the FSB's demands until she was finally able to escape Russia.
The Kyiv Independent reached out to Verzilov after the revelation.
"The FSB has been trying to kill me for the last 10 years in various parts of the world," Verzilov said.
"Their repeated attempts in the last several years are a testament of the work we do, first of all of the work focused on the defense of Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression."
Pussy Riot co-founder Nadya Tolokonnikova wrote on X on Aug. 26 that she only learned about Flores being recruited by the FSB when the interview was published online.
"We never worked together as Pussy Riot activists, and she was not part of the circle of people I trusted. Luckily, this means she was not part of group chats, planning, or even casual discussion," Tolokonnikova said.
Although they weren't acquainted, Tolokonnikova said she reached out to Flores in 2023 after learning that police had searched her apartment in Moscow because she feels compelled to help others who are targeted by Russian authorities for their connections to Pussy Riot.
"In 2011, when we were forming Pussy Riot, there was a saying, 'anyone can be Pussy Riot.' Some things did not age so well. In 2026, in this fifth year of full-scale violence and aggression against Ukraine, there must be much stronger moral lines," Tolokonnikova added.
"Peter chose his side, and they wanted him dead. For my part, I have tried my best to be on the right side. Rita, for three years, chose hers. I will not be in contact with her in the future. I hope she and her lawyer work with local authorities to expose the spies and murderers that may still be operating within dissident circles."
