Founding member of the Russian punk rock collective Pussy Riot, Maria Alyokhina, has reportedly escaped Russia by posing as a food courier. The 33 year old artist explained her reason and method of escaping in an interview with The New York Times.

In her interview, Alyokhina explained that her decision to leave the country followed the crackdowns on protests in April by Vladimir Putin, who desired to silence critics of his war against Ukraine. In February, Alyokhina was arrested for 15 days on the count of spreading “propaganda of Nazi symbolism,” which was in reality a 2015 post critical Belarus’ Aleksandr Lukashenko, followed by a period of a type of house arrest. Russian authorities told the artist that this sentence would turn into 21 days in a penal colony. Consequence Sound quotes the artist as stating that “They are scared because they cannot control us.”

During her escape attempt, the artist dressed in a green hoodie and a food delivery backpack; leaving her phone at her apartment to avoid being tracked by the government. A friend had originally drove her to the border of Belarus, but she could not remain their due to Belarus and Russia being allied nations. From Belarus, she was eventually able to escape into Lithuania after two failed attempts.

Speaking on her experience, the artist said that “A lot of magic happened last week… It sounds like a spy novel.” While Alyokhina one day hopes to return to her home country, she does not know when that will be possible, but explained that “If your heart is free, it doesn’t matter where you are.”

Pussy Riot has recently released a track and music video titled “HATEFUCK,” featuring Slayyyter.