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Photo: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

While it’s unquestionable that Nadezha Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, the two recently freed members of Pussy Riot, are a couple of brave and inspiring young women, it turns out that there are questions over their current connection to Pussy Riot. In an open letter signed by six other anonymous members of the activist group/punk band and posted on their blog, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina are announced as no longer being members and are accused of becoming "institutionalized advocates of prisoners rights." The biggest sticking point, apparently, is that Pussy Riot only performs illegal concerts and, by appearing at the Amnesty International concert last night in Brooklyn, not to mention as guests on The Colbert Report, they broke the rules. The letter goes on to say:

"Unfortunately for us, they are being so carried away with the problems in Russian prisons, that they completely forgot about the aspirations and ideals of our group—feminism, separatist resistance, fight against authoritarianism and personality cult, all of which, as a matter of fact, was the cause for their unjust punishment."

Interestingly the letter also added that, "Yes, we lost two friends, two ideological fellow member [sic], but the world has acquired two brave, interesting, controversial human rights defenders," but then when on to say, "Unfortunately, we cannot congratulate them with this in person, because they refuse to have any contact with us." Which seems to suggest that maybe this split was mutual.

For those who haven’t been following Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina’s American tour, it’s hard to imagine why Pussy Riot would have any sort of beef with these ladies. Judging by their Colbert appearance alone, they are remarkably funny, intelligent, engaging, and passionate (all the more impressive considering it was through a translator). Not to mention effing fearless. They challenged Putin, the man who essentially threw them in imprison, multiple times. "We have different ideas about a bright future [for Russia] and we don’t want a shirtless man on a horse leading us," Tolokonnikova told Colbert. They even dared the Russian leader to throw them back in jail. Two young women, both in their mid-twenties, who spent two years unjustly imprisoned in Russian work camps, straight up gulag-style, are perfectly willing to go back rather than be silenced by Putin’s oppressive government. Holy crap, who wouldn’t want these ladies in their corner? Here in America, we get all pouty and melodramatic every time we have to stand in line at the DMV.

And if nothing else, they went to prison for being in Pussy Riot. In any case, however Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina carry on with their activism, it’s safe to say that the rest of the world will be watching intently. And for those young women out there who’ve been spending their days enamored by the Mileys and the Kardashians of the world, this might be a perfect time to reassess your role models.