Pugatschowa admits to having admired Putin. Now she is shocked

Russian pop music icon Alla Pugacheva has spoken out after a long silence. In a four-hour interview with journalist Katerina Gordeeva, she openly admitted that she used to admire Vladimir Putin, voted for him, and considered him her idol: “He said amazingly true things back then… and now it's all a shock.”

However, according to the Washington Post, she was most vocal in her opposition to the war in Ukraine. “Telling your country that it is wrong is patriotism,” she emphasized.

"I'm not going to go into detail now about how terrible this [war, editor's note] is. Everyone knows that I am against the war and believe that our country has suffered greatly—secondarily, because Ukraine is suffering first,“ she said.

The conversation also revealed personal aspects of her life. Her husband, comedian Maxim Galkin, is considered a ”foreign agent" in Russia, and her children were ridiculed at school. When asked if they would still have wanted to stay in Russia, she replied unequivocally:

“There is such a thing as a conscience. And conscience is more valuable than fame, more valuable than luxury, more valuable than anything else, especially at my age,” she said.

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