‘The worst days of my life’: Pussy Riot member on suspected poisoning of her boyfriend

Nika Nikulshina, still just 21, has seen a lot protesting in Putin’s Russia, but nothing as bad as fellow Pussy Riot member fighting for his life

She and Olya Kurachyova, another member of the punk protest group, remain defiant despite the pressure on them

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Pussy Riot’s Nika Nikulshina and Olya Kurachyova go sightseeing in Hong Kong. Photo: Nora Tam

Published: 3:01pm, 24 Nov 2018Updated: 6:27pm, 24 Nov 2018

Nika Nikulshina, of Russian punk protest group Pussy Riot, shifts nervously in her chair as she explains why she suspects her boyfriend and fellow group member Pyotr Verzilov was poisoned by Russia’s intelligence service in September.

“The government doesn’t want some things to come out, or maybe they just want to show their power – you know, don’t put your hands there, don’t put your nose here, it’s our deal and not your business,” says Nikulshina during a visit to Hong Kong earlier this month. “A big reason is because of the work he was doing in central Africa.”

As editor of Russian independent online news website Mediazona, Verzilov, 31, was researching the deaths of three Russian journalists, including his friend, filmmaker Alexander Rastorguev, in an ambush in the Central African Republic in July while making a documentary on the activities of Wagner Group – a private security company with links to the Kremlin.

According to Reuters, Wagner Group has reportedly been used by the Russian authorities to conduct clandestine military operations on their behalf. The Russian authorities have denied these reports.

Peter Verzilov with Nikulshina in Berlin after he was released from hospital in September. Photo: AFP

Russia opened a criminal inquiry into the deaths, but Verzilov wanted to do his own investigation and was planning to visit the African nation when, on September 11, the day before he was due to fly out, he fell ill and was admitted to hospital in Moscow.

“It’s scary when something is happening with your close friend, with the person you love, and you can’t do anything. And you don’t know what the f*** is going on because it was crazy stuff … They were the worst days of my life,” Nikulshina says.