In an earlier “questions” thread, we discovered that the Russian protest group “Pussy Riot” (three members of which are now facing two years of jail time for a Moscow cathedral protest/performance) originally rendered their name in English–bringing with it the ambiguous dual-meaning of “pussy” in English. The group formed in August of 2011 and has an estimated 12 members.
In a February 8, 2012, story on Live Journal, group member “Kot” (Tomcat) was quoted as saying the group was “well aware of it’s vulgar connotations in English,” but “liked the tension between that word [pussy], and the rudeness and aggression of the word ‘riot.’”
However, an interesting question is whether “Pussy Riot” are playing off an OMON Russian riot police “cat” meme from May of 2007, which made a splash in international media. In a story in the UK Telegraph, “Russia’s Riot Police Show Their Fluffy Side,” a long-haired cat was placed in front of an OMON attack Alsatian named Ajax.
"To the orders of his handler, Ajax proceeded to lick and nuzzle the cat, whose expression of nonchalance only started to slip when the dog lifted it into the air in its jaws, carried it several feet and then gently placed in back on the ground.
“‘You see,’ said Maj Gen Alexander Ivanin, commenting through the microphone, ‘our service dogs wouldn’t threaten a thing.’”
OMON are the main anti-riot and counter-terrorist police in Russia; the Ministry of the Interior’s front line of control for dealing with mass protests. They have in the past broken up political protests against President Putin, Pussy Riot’s main target.
While “Pussy Riot” makes no such claim, it’s an interesting question whether in choosing this name, the group was playing on what appears to be an established media meme by the Russian government: The use of a cat to show the essentially harmless nature of the government’s frontline OMON riot police–until provoked. I’ve seen this meme repeated elsewhere, so it was not a “one off” media moment.
Presumably, then, Russian news consumers steeped in the everyday details of Russian culture would make such an association quickly. Maybe someone versed in current Russian media and culture can shed some light on this.
Here is that address of the UK telegraph story from 2007: