New Pussy Riot video slams corruption-accused chief prosecutor

Russian punk band Pussy Riot, which became a symbol of resistance for a church performance slamming President Vladimir Putin, released a new protest song Wednesday mocking a senior official for alleged corruption.

Titled “Chaika”, the satirical song and accompanying video take aim at prosecutor general Yury Chaika, whose two sons have been accused of using their father’s position to accrue large fortunes.

Dressed in a navy skirt and jacket with epaulettes recalling Chaika’s uniform, surrounded by six backing singers in similar garb, Pussy Riot frontwoman Nadezhda Tolokonnikova accuses Chaika of the crimes he is supposed to prosecute.

“I myself am in charge of the fight with corruption — or to be precise, I’m in charge of corruption,” she sings.

The video, which comes with English subtitles, premiered on the US website BuzzFeed. It can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VakUHHUSdf8

It opens with one of the band members gorging on a cooked turkey that she tears apart with her bare hands — an apparent symbol of official greed. It also features mock torture scenes.

Last year, Chaika’s sons were the subject of a detailed investigation by opposition politician Alexei Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation.

The foundation accused Artyom Chaika of involvement in the illegal seizure of a shipping firm and said his younger brother Igor won government contracts in shady circumstances.

The claims garnered huge public interest, with a video released by Navalny about the investigation being viewed more than 4.5 million times on YouTube.

Earlier this month, Russian authorities forwarded a request from an opposition lawmaker to investigate some of the claims — to Chaika’s own office.

– ‘Be true to Putin’ –

Chaika himself has rubbished the allegations, which he said were an attempt by the US secret services to tarnish Moscow’s credibility.

Mocking his rebuttal Pussy Riot choruses: “I’m Russian, I’m a patriot.”

The song also explicitly links Chaika’s position to his loyalty to Putin.

“If you want to take care of your earthly goods, son, then be true to Putin to the end,” it says.

In 2012, Tolokonnikova was sentenced to two years in a prison camp, together with fellow band member Maria Alyokhina, for performing an anti-Putin anthem on the altar of a Moscow church. The pair received amnesty in December 2013, three months before their scheduled release.

In the new video Pussy Riot accuses Russian prosecutors of torturing and even killing detainees.

The video depicts prisoners, with sacks over their heads, being waterboarded — a form of torture that simulates drowning.

“We interrogate who we want, we get the job done. We drop a brick at the right moment, we feed them to the fishes. If you’re not wanted, we’ll bury you,” Pussy Riot sings.