Russian pop idol slams war
LONDON: Alla Pugacheva, the queen of Soviet pop music, yesterday denounced President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, which she said was killing soldiers for illusory aims, burdening ordinary people and turning Russia into a global pariah.
Pugacheva (73), a Soviet and then postSoviet idol who is probably Russia’s most famous woman, requested Russia also class her as a ‘‘foreign agent’’ after her husband, 46yearold TV comedian Maxim Galkin, was on September 16 included on the state’s list.
‘‘I ask you to include me among the ranks of foreign agents of my beloved country because I am in solidarity with my husband,’’ Pugacheva said on Instagram, which is banned in Russia.
Pugacheva said her husband was a patriot who wanted a prosperous country with peace, freedom and an ‘‘end to the death of our boys for illusory aims’’.
Such penetrating criticism from one of Russia’s most famous people — known across generations for hits such as the 1982 song Million Scarlet Roses and the 1978 film The Woman who Sings — is rare, and potentially dangerous, in modern Russia.
Labelling someone a ‘‘foreign agent’’ is often the first sign of serious trouble from authorities. Its bearers have to place it prominently on all content that they publish and they also face arduous financial and bureaucratic requirements.
Russian troops struck the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant in Ukraine's southern Mykolaiv region yesterday, but its reactors have not been damaged and are working normally, Ukraine's state nuclear company, Energoatom, said.
A blast took place 300m away from the reactors and damaged power plant buildings shortly after midnight, Energoatom said in a statement. — Reuters