French newspaper Liberation published an article today entitled “Putin
shows mercy to Pussy Riot” (“Poutine se fait clément pour les Pussy
Riot”), which discusses the statement about the punk-singers
Vladimir Putin made yesterday in London after talks with David
Cameron: “There is nothing good in what they have done. Nevertheless,
I do not think that they should be judged severely for what they have
done”.
“The Russian man of power has a habit of making carefully-thought-out
statements about the current court processes. These commentaries
generally coincide with the verdicts of the tribunals… But Vladimir
Putin stressed on Thursday that in the case of the three singers
it is the court that would have the last word and that he prefers not
to express his opinion on the issue,” Liberation writes.
Sueddeutsche Zeitung and Spiegel Online also published articles on
this topic. Both articles discuss Putin’s statement that the current
persecution of Pussy Riot is not the worst scenario, because the
punishment would have been much tougher had they held their
performance in Israel or in a Muslim village in the North Caucasus.
“To have a different opinion is a basic right in every democracy,”
Spiegel Online cites a letter from British musicians in support
of Pussy Riot.
