Last night, the two most high-profile members of Pussy Riot spoke at the Cambridge Union as part of a short visit to the United Kingdom. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina’s trip will have involved a speech to Parliament, a selfie-strewn feature for the Guardian, and an Amnesty International event - but for one evening we had them to ourselves, first in the debating chamber and then in a round-table discussion with eager representatives of the student press. 

Maria (nick-named Masha), began by divulging that “sometimes to talk with students is more interesting than to talk with journalists,” although the competitive zeal with which we fired our questions at the pair showed all too clearly that it is possible to be both.

The band is famous for defying Putin and the Russian state through their very particular brand of punk music and protest, which receives widespread acclaim through global media coverage. “There was a possibility of us to have been in much more difficult condition if our case wasn’t so well covered by international press. You can easily get beaten up or killed or lost in Russian prison, if your case is not closely watched by international media.”

Asked about the personality cult built up around them both in the West, Pussy Riot are very straightforward. “If we would be honest, we are not think a lot about us, we’re just trying to do our work in Russia, and if you just will come once you will see that we are living like… completely usual people, always late into our office.” “We don’t really pay a lot of attention to the way we are treated and approached in the West. We basically take it as it exists.” The two women are fascinating to watch up close, constantly correcting their interpreter and bursting into rapid Russian before frenetically trying to get a point across in broken English.

Nadya has in the past expressed annoyance at being repeatedly asked about her young daughter, arguing the same would not be done if she were a man. It would strike me as correspondingly crass to pick up on Pussy Riot’s appearance were it not for the role their aesthetic has undoubtedly played in propelling them to fame, from the moment in February 2012 when they filmed a music video in Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral wearing brightly coloured cagoules. Across the table from me, the sheer exuberance of colours they wear seems to be a political statement in itself – short cropped hair, flashing pink and green, orange nails tapping out the rhythm of responses. All the while, two slowly revolving peace signs hang from Masha’s ears.

After a two year feat of endurance in tough jail conditions, Pussy Riot have forged a very precise discourse centred on Putin, his treatment of political prisoners, and the lack of adequate media coverage in Russia. During the talk, they both lay heavy emphasis on the undue polarization of the debate between their President and everything else. “Criticising Putin shouldn’t be seen as anti-Russian.” I ask how they think the debate can be widened to specific Russian institutions, rather than people.

They reply that dealing with political imprisonment is particularly “effective in two ways ’cause you show that Putin and his government really [don’t] appreciate the people who are against them and [are] opening criminal cases against these people, and second reason you are directly helping these guys because you protect them.” “If you don’t want to just criticize Putin you have to notice some specific and concrete questions. And you can do your own media investigations in this field.”

Coverage in Russia portrays both Masha and Nadya as “traitors of the motherland,” and Masha explained during the talk that the two have never tried to hide their affiliation with Western values.  They are however “trying to step away from the East/West rhetoric of the Cold War" and are by no means willing to give Western media the all clear. “If they criticise only Putin, it looks [like] they just don’t like him, maybe he has not good belly, undercover…” The interpreter, who turns out to be a political activist, married to Nadya, comes to the rescue on this point: “when he’s half naked without his shirt.” 

Pussy Riot’s other nine members have chosen to remain more or less anonymous. Masha and Nadya, still based in Russia, have faced numerous incidents of state-sanctioned violence, most notoriously an attack by Cossack guards armed with horse-whips, whilst filming a music video at the Winter Games in February of this year. On the topic of the Sochi Olympics, Nadya bemoans the fact “everyone was talking only about gay rights.” “It’s a very important issue but it’s not only one issue that is important in Russia. For example, human rights defenders often are beaten by people who are hired by police officers.”

“One of the reasons for the Sochi performances actually was to give a voice and support for the local issues in Sochi.” The absence of honest local media presence is particularly significant in relation to the environment, something Nadya experienced first hand whilst growing up in Norilsk, a Siberian city beyond the arctic circle, and “one of the much dirtiest” on Earth. “Of course these problems are not covered in local media, because it is forbidden.”

In response to the journalistic void at home, and their particular dislike of Russia Today, which now broadcasts around the world, the pair has set up an independent news service, Mediazona. “We really want to do media work.” “It’s just beginning, I think, for our media. It’s young, and we want to cover also not only prison things but politics, politics in Russia in general.”