Answering journalists in London, Vladimir Putin promised the members of Pussy Riot soft punishment and formally he wasn't lying: the prosecution asked for three years in prison and the court gave them just two. But such a "soft" sentence seems like an even more cynical mockery. Judge Marina Syrova read the text of her decision for nearly three hours, and from the look on her face it was obvious that she would give anything if no one could see her at that moment.

The Russian justice system has a rather rich tradition of issuing knowingly unjust verdicts (it's worth remembering not just oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky but also, for example, activists from the National Bolshevik opposition party, who have got three to five years' jail for nonviolent protests), but this sentence stands out even so. Never before has a Russian court handed down its decision based on medieval church councils, the internal order of the church and medical diagnoses worthy of becoming aphorisms. This is not a joke: in the verdict it is said that the defendants "suffered from mixed personality disorder displayed by their active position in life".

On first glance it might seem that this story has become a catastrophe for Putin's image. Rallies in support of Pussy Riot took place in many countries around the world and, in listing the main stars of global show business, from Madonna and Stephen Fry to Paul McCartney and Björk, it's almost easier to name those who haven't come out in support of the Russian punk group. But Putin's life doesn't depend on Madonna's statements, and the image of Russia as a European Iran, where courts make theological decisions, is even useful for Putin, who can now say to the west: look, this is a wild, religious country that can only be ruled by authoritarian methods.

The reconstruction of the political space in Russia began almost right after the mass protests in December of last year demanding honest elections. Putin didn't start flirting with the "creative class", where most of the protesters came from, but instead devoted his whole pre-electoral campaign on creating the maximum amount of mutual hatred between the "creative class" and the "simple people", who, if you believe the propaganda, support Putin. The Pussy Riot case takes this hatred to a new level, adding to it a religious component. If you're against Putin that means you're against the Orthodox church. You can sneer at this formulation all you want, but it makes Putin's power more stable. The hatred being cultivated in Russian society will become a source of legitimacy for Putin.

Thanks to the trial against Pussy Riot, the main theme of discussion in Russian society became the role of the Orthodox church in the life of the country, and there are much fewer opponents of Orthodoxy among Russians than opponents of Putin. Showing an unjust, inquisitorial trial, which, with a sinking heart, the whole world is watching, stole the attention of Russian society from the violence against the opposition. We are expecting the arrest of the popular opposition activist Alexei Navalny, against whom a criminal case has been opened. It's also possible that one of the few opposition deputies in the Russian parliament, Gennady Gudkov, might be arrested.

There are currently 12 rank and file members of the last big anti-Putin protest threatened with jail sentences for clashes with police. Seen against the trial against Pussy Riot, these repressions will look quite natural. In this sense, the political significance of the trial against the punk musicians is a lot more serious than the story of performing the anti-Putin song in Moscow's main church itself.

And judge Marina Syrova, tired from a difficult trial, will probably go on holiday and, as Russian officials do, will go relax somewhere in Europe. Maybe in Italy, maybe in Spain. In this sense, Russia, if you can consider it an Orthodox Iran, is very strange: Putinist officials can't imagine their lives without the west. Their kids, money, property, holidays and shopping are there. And as long as the possibility to leave Russia exists, no Madonna will scare them.