Singer Alla Pugacheva, who left Russia after the start of the military operation in Ukraine, described her critics as jealous and slanderous. Without naming a specific target, she posted the message on her Instagram page, a platform owned by Meta, which is banned in Russia as extremist.
She called the critics a mix of rabid, half-hearted, envious, and slanderous people. You were the ones I called slaves and servants, she wrote, in a line that drew broad attention online.
Pugacheva clarified that these remarks were not directed at the Russian people who currently feel like hostages. She insisted that she loves and pities the Russian population and argued that critics aim to alienate those who supported her throughout a career defined by performances and sacrifices in health and personal life.
She warned that any attempts to destroy or demean her life and work would fail because her large fan base would not abandon her. She noted that she had fulfilled her duty by not singing for a long time, yet her voice remained heard, her legs moved, her eyes saw, and her ears listened.
The artist emphasized that she earned her money through hard work, contrasting her with those who squander chances and ideas about success. She claimed that some have “cut off her oxygen” while she proclaimed freedom as her most valuable asset and vowed to strive to live until the triumph of light over darkness, good over evil, and truth over slander.
When she referenced a request to Yaroslav Dronov, the singer known as SHAMAN, she echoed a sentiment she attributed to him as well: that she would speak again, even if no one asked. Pugacheva asserted that her memory remains in the hearts of many Russians, regardless of others’ desires.
Pugacheva’s visit to Russia
Pugacheva and her husband, Maxim Galkin, who is often described in Russia as a foreign agent, left Russia in spring 2022 and relocated to Israel with their children, the ten-year-old twins Harry and Elizabeth. Since then, she has returned briefly on several occasions, with appearances noted in 2022 and in 2023.
The most recent reports of her arrival surfaced on November 2, when media outlets said she entered the country alone via a border crossing in the Pskov region and then traveled to Moscow by train. She did not issue an official statement about the return. A Telegram channel suggested that she could be recording a new album in her hometown, mentioning a visit to the Salam music studio in Tver where she had prior collaborations. The channel also claimed that she intended to prepare an additional will for her children and gather documents to facilitate a move to new apartments in Cyprus.
In another angle, sources cited a meeting with a potential buyer of a castle in Gryaz, along with a focus on resolving property issues and a visit to doctors, as reasons for her temporary Russia return. On November 5, Galkin posted a photo from Sigulda, Latvia, announcing her departure from Russia.
Complaints about Pugacheva
Following her return to Russia, members of the public organization People’s Call urged authorities to hold the artist accountable for what they described as public insult on the Internet. The complaint centers on an October 2022 Instagram post in which the singer called her critics servants and slaves and celebrated that she was consistently disliked by people she could not stand.
Additionally, the group asked for an investigation into possible financing of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They also asked the Prosecutor General to review the matter, the request echoed by Vitaly Borodin, who heads a security and anti-corruption project.
Commenting on the situation, Dmitry Peskov, the Russian president’s press secretary, stated that any respectable and law-abiding Russian citizen may freely return to and leave the country, underscoring a broader stance on domestic mobility.