Superstar: pop diva Alla Pugachewa sharply criticizes the war

Well-known Russian pop singer Alla Pugacheva has sharply criticized Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The Justice Department has blacklisted her husband Maxim Galkin as a “foreign agent” and is asking her to be included among the foreign agents, the 73-year-old wrote on her Instagram account on Sunday.

Rock and pop music shaped in Russia

She writes that she is in solidarity with her husband, “an honest, decent and sincere person, a real and unforgettable patriot of Russia, who wishes his homeland prosperity, a peaceful life, freedom of speech and an end to the dying of our boys for illusory ends that are ours make the country a pariah and make life difficult for our citizens.”

Pugacheva is considered a superstar in her home country. She has shaped rock and pop music in Russia since the 1970s. Her success has survived the fall of the Soviet Union – with her constant TV presence she was one of the most dazzling show greats in Russia and her marriage to the 27-year-old presenter and comedian Maxim Galkin was a constant topic for the tabloid media.

“Fierce slap” for the Kremlin

After the start of the war against Ukraine, the couple left Russia for Israel. In contrast to Galkin, who criticized the Russian leadership in Israel, Pugacheva has so far held back with political statements.

All the greater is the echo that could now follow their harsh criticism of the war. The political scientist Abbas Galliamov, once speechwriter for President Vladimir Putin, spoke of a “strong slap” for the Kremlin. “If there are still important people in the country about whom there is a consensus, then of course it is Pugacheva,” he wrote on his Telegram channel. You have always left politics outside. “Your sudden politicization can create that feeling in society that is so dangerous for the authorities: ‘That’s enough’,” he said.