Pussy Riot take on 'Russian leader' in new television series

The two Pussy Riot punk rockers who served jail time for a stunt slamming President Vladimir Putin have once again struck out at the Russian leader.
The forum for their latest swipe at the Kremlin strongman is season three of the hit US television series "The House of Cards", which premieres Friday on Netflix, the women said in an interview released today.
In the new series, Pussy Riot members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina come face-to-face with a fictional Russian leader, Viktor Petrov, at a dinner party thrown by Kevin Spacey's scheming anti-hero Frank Underwood.
The dinner turns into a disaster as the Russian punks, who play themselves along with fellow activist Pyotr Verzilov, launch into an angry tirade against Underwood's guest.

"We stand up, Petya (Verzilov) bangs the table with his fist and says that we would like to propose a toast," Tolokonnikova told the New Times, a Russian opposition magazine.
"And we drink to the Russian president who loves his friends so much that he has sold them half the country, the commander-in-chief who is not afraid of anyone except gays," the 25-year-old said.

Underwood then watches the activists perform a song they wrote for the series, together with Le Tigre, a US feminist band.
Tolokonnikova said that the creator of the series, Beau Willimon, asked them to write a song "directed against this fictional 'Putin'."

"We thought such a move would be too blunt and we wrote for them an international English-language song 'Don't Cry Genocide', which is devoted to the militarisation of society and to American drones in particular."
The activists said that Russia featured prominently in the third season, chalking it up to the Ukraine conflict.
In February 2012, several members of Pussy Riot stormed the altar of a Moscow church and attempted to sing what they called a "punk prayer" calling on the Virgin Mary to "drive Putin out."
Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were jailed for hooliganism and released in late 2013.
Tolokonnikova said that Petrov's character had been modelled on Putin and that Willimon wanted the fictional president and Putin to have the same initials.