VIA VIMEO
Pyotr Pavlensky, who was previously best known as the Russian performance artist who nailed his scrotum to the street in Red Square to protest the police, has found a way to outdo himself: as The Guardian reports, Pavlensky set fire to the entrance of the headquarters of the FSB security service (the modern-day incarnation of the KBG) in Moscow at 1 a.m. on Monday morning, according to his lawyer Olga Chavdar.
There is a video, titled The Burning Door of the Lubyanka (slang for the headquarters), which has been posted online. In it, a hooded Pavlensky stands before the flaming building, holding an incriminating petrol canister, until a policeman runs up to him. Pavlensky states in a message released along with the video, “The FSB acts using a method of unending terror and holds power over 146 million people.”
Chavdar has indicated that Pavlensky will be charged with arson, which carries a five-year sentence if convicted. She told The Guardian, “It’s hard to say what charge: anything can happen in our country.”
On Facebook, Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova wrote a supportive message praising “wonderful Pyotr and his performance.”
Below, a video of the aftermath of the fire.