Here's What Happens When Pussy Riot Comes To Capitol Hill

By Arlette Saenz May 6, 2014

(HBO)

Two members of the Russian punk group Pussy Riot met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill today, asking the U.S. to add 16 Russian officials to a sanctions list for human rights violators.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina met privately with Sens. Ben Cardin, D-Md., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., to discuss human rights abuses in Russia.

"We'd like to remind our government that they have obligations that they have signed that they have to honor and we would like them not to continue having such an anti-Russian policy as they do have right now," Tolokonnikova said at a news conference through a translator.

"One of the main slogans of President Putin is 'stability,' whereas today we can state that Putin is leading Russia not to stability but to complete instability and chaos."

The lawmakers praised the two women for speaking out about Russia's abuse of human rights.

"It is my pleasure to welcome to the United States Capitol members of the Pussy Riot," Cardin said. "We had a chance to talk with them about the conditions today in Russia, the experiences that they had, including the fact that they were arrested and sent to prison, how they had tried to help the citizens of Russia deal with the current deterioration of human rights in Russia."

"The only way we're going to get advancements on human rights is to put a spotlight on those who are violating human rights to stand up and make it clear that we will not accept these behaviors," Cardin added.

Tolokonnikova and Alekhina were famously arrested in 2012 after protesting against Russian President Vladimir Putin in a Moscow cathedral.