Russian pop diva Pugacheva who denounced war flees to Israel

Russian pop diva Pugacheva who denounced war flees to Israel
October 10, 2022, 6:30 pm

Russian singer Alla Pugacheva arrives for the MUZ-TV music awards in Moscow, June 6, 2008. (photo credit: REUTERS/DENIS SINYAKOV)

Alla Pugacheva, the queen of Soviet pop music, on Monday (Oct 10) said she was in Israel, three weeks after she denounced President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine for turning Russia into a global pariah.

"I thank my multi-million army of fans for their love and support, for the ability to distinguish truth from lies," Pugacheva, 73, a Soviet and then post-Soviet icon who is probably Russia's most famous woman, said on Instagram.

"From the Holy Land, I pray for you and for peace," she said. "I am happy!"

Pugacheva became the most high-profile cultural figure in Russia to speak out against the war after her husband, the comedian Maxim Galkin, was labeled a "foreign agent" last month.

Last week, Russian musical superstar slammed critics of her opposition to Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Tuesday (Oct 4), calling supporters of the war "slaves" and "lackeys."

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"How lucky am I to be hated by the people I've always hated," Pugacheva wrote in an Instagram post.

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"The reason is clear," she added, in an apparent reference to the Ukraine invasion.

Pugacheva has in the past been feted by both Putin and his predecessor as president, Boris Yeltsin. When Mikhail Gorbachev died in August, she praised the last Soviet leader for allowing freedom and rejecting violence.

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