Members of the political punk band Pussy Riot sit in the defendants' cage of a courtroom in Moscow, on Aug. 3, 2012.
For decades under the Soviet Union, the Russian Orthodox Church was a feeble but loyal extension of the bureaucracy, a charming antique of outdated piety. It is no longer a push-over. As TIME’s Simon Shuster recounted:
“On Feb. 8, a month before Vladimir Putin was re-elected to a third term as Russia’s President, he made the unprecedented statement that the separation between church and state is a ‘primitive notion,’ which both institutions should abandon in favor of ‘partnership, mutual help and support.’”
That announcement is what inspired the all female punk band Pussy Riot to hold a protest in Moscow’s main cathedral two weeks later, with the intention of “provoking a dialogue,” as one member later said. The Orthodox church was not amused and — already a very effective manipulator of public opinion — organized a public campaign against the group and impiety in general. In August, a judge sentenced three members of the band to two years in prison. They were found guilty of charges that add up to an antique but no longer outdated crime in today’s Russia: blasphemy.