To the world, Maria Alyokhina is known as a member of the Russian activist punk-rock collective Pussy Riot. To the Kremlin, however, she is known as a vocal protestor of the government’s policies, particularly its invasion of Ukraine. When the government decided in April to convert her effective house arrest to internment in a penal colony, she decided it was time to leave the country, setting her on course for a harrowing escape from under the watchful eye of President Vladimir Putin‘s regime.

In a new interview with The New York Times, Alyokhina detailed her recent escape from Russia while under house arrest. The activist, author, and artist slipped out of her surveilled apartment dressed as a food courier and utilized a network of like-minded compatriots and sympathizers from across Europe to make her escape.

She made it safely to the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, reconvening with the rest of her Pussy Riot bandmates for a tour to raise money for Ukraine that begins today, May 12th, in Berlin.

“I was happy that I made it, because it was an unpredictable and big” middle finger to Russian authorities, Alyokhina told the Times, which cleaned up the language. “I still don’t understand completely what I’ve done.”

[via The New York Times – Maria Alyokhina (left) and Lucy Shtein (right) wearing disguises used to escape Russia]

Alyokhina had been committed to staying in Russia to continue her vocal opposition to Putin and his war in Ukraine as well as his propaganda war at home. Since last summer, Alyokhina has been jailed six times—each for 15 days—on trumped-up charges aimed at silencing her, at least for a fortnight. The final straw came last month, as Putin’s authorities began a more severe crackdown on criticism of the war in Ukraine. Alyokhina was notified that her house arrest would be converted to 21 days in a penal colony. That was when she decided it was time to leave.

“I don’t think Russia has a right to exist anymore,” she said to the Times. “Even before, there were questions about how it is united, by what values it is united, and where it is going. But now I don’t think that is a question anymore.”

Related: Russian Feminist Protest-Punk Heroes Pussy Riot Share Jarring Track, ‘Police State’ [Video]

After a friend drove her to the Belarus border, it took Alyokhina a week to make it to the Lithuanian boundary. Once there, she attempted to cross with a Lithuanian visa and her Russian domestic ID, as the Kremlin had confiscated her passport. She was interrogated for six hours before being turned back the first time. By this point, Russian authorities had placed her on the “wanted” list. On her second attempt, she was shooed away by the officer on duty.

For her third attempt, Alyokhina had tapped into her network of friends and sympathizers including Icelandic performance artist Ragnar Kjartansson, who convinced a friendly European country to issue Maria a document that essentially gave her the same status as an E.U. citizen. The European country asked not to be named. She ultimately got on a bus to Lithuania, adding another buffer country between her and Russia.

“A lot of magic happened last week,” she said. “It sounds like a spy novel.”

Read the full interview in The New York Times.