Russian pop diva is mocked after criticizing Putin – VG

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– Pugachova is an important voice. I think this makes an impression on people. She has an impact, she tells VG Mette Skak, a Russian expert at Aarhus University.

The singing star is perhaps Russia’s biggest celebrity – and her husband Maxim Galkin is also in the top 10.

On Sunday, he condemned President Vladimir Putin for his war in Ukraine and said so turn Russia into a pariah state.

– It is the killing of our children for illusory purposes that makes our country a pariah state and makes life difficult for our citizens, he wrote on social media.

She also asked to be labeled a “foreign agent” after Russian authorities recently gave her husband, television celebrity and comedian Galkin, that label. “foreign agent” is a way to label Putin’s critics and involves a number of labor-intensive restrictions and procedures.

The police have also initiated proceedings against Galkin for breaking the law that it is forbidden to publish “fake news” about the military. He faces up to seven years of imprisonment. Galkin was born in Odesa, Ukraine.

Norway recently joined an EU declaration on this law. He says that Russia is breaking “international law to guarantee human rights”.

On Monday, Pugacheva will encounter criticism from both politics and culture in Russia. On the contrary, the Putin regime will not comment on the issue:

– This question is in no way related to the Kremlin. Therefore, I will not comment on it, says Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov Tax.

To the museum”

The well-known politician Pyotr Tolstoy, one of the driving forces behind the introduction of the law on “foreign agents”, instead launched a strong attack on Pugacheva in Upstairs:

– I’m sorry that Pugacheva, the country’s most popular former singer, has lost touch with reality and stands in solidarity with those who want Russia to lose, says the politician, who is also a vice-president of parliament.

– Its place is now in the historical museum of the Soviet era. Probably the saddest thing for an artist is to stop feeling for his country and the people of him, to get out of the history of his homeland.

Famous actress Marija Shukshina criticizes Pugacheva on her Telegram channel:

– Why Pugacheva decides that our soldiers, who defend the Russian people in the Donbas and their country, are less intelligent than her and do not understand why they sacrifice their blood, she asks, reproduced by Moskovsky Komsolets.

– None of those on the front believe that the goal of the special operation is “illusory”, writes Shukshina – and therefore uses the same word as Pugacheva.

Pugacheva censored

Rapper Timati believes Pugacheva is “defaming her beloved country” and remembers working half her life for Kremlin loyal channel Pervyi, which is why she was loved all over Russia.

Agenstvo’s excavation journalists, reproduced from the independent website Jellyfish (which also has the “foreign agent” label), revealed on Monday that mainstream media loyal to the Kremlin did not reproduce the entire message to Pugacheva in their news articles.

They point out that the media only included the part about her asking the Ministry of Justice to label her a “foreign agent” like her husband – but that they omitted the part about Russian soldiers dying for “illusory purposes” and that Russia is becoming a “pariah state”.

– Agenstvo writes that it is the second time in a short time that the media loyal to the Kremlin have censored Pugacheva. It also happened when she criticized “modern politicians” during Mikhail Gorbachev’s funeral, Meduza writes.

Financial Times Moscow chief Max Seddon posted this tweet about Pugacheva:

– As Pugatschova clearly stands out as an opponent of the war and with powerful arguments, this is a criticism that has some resonance, says Mette Skak of Aarhus University to VG.

– It can awaken the Russian public to understand that things are going wrong during the war and that it is becoming dangerous to be sent to the front. There is a danger that the soldiers will not return home alive. I think what you say will have an impact, because she is more popular than opera singer Anna Netrebko, who has also spoken critically. The importance of cultural personalities should not be overstated, but I am convinced that this makes an impression on people, says Mette Skak.

PS: The married couple Pugacheva / Galkin stayed in Israel this spring, but returned to Russia in August and they are probably there now. This is the first time he has spoken publicly about the war.

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