The statements are the first time the pop star, an icon in Russia, has publicly criticized the conflict. Her husband, Maxim Galkin, joined journalists, human rights activists and Kremlin opponents in being branded a “foreign agent” last week for opposing the war. Addressing the Russian Ministry of Justice, Pugacheva told her 3.4 million Instagram followers: “I am asking you to include me in the list of foreign agents of my beloved country. “Because I stand in solidarity with my husband, who is an honest and moral man, a true and incorruptible Russian patriot, who desires only prosperity, peace and freedom of expression in his homeland.” She said her husband wanted “an end to the deaths of our boys for illusory goals that make our country a pariah and burden the lives of its citizens.” Pugacheva, 73, who has sold more than 250 million records, became hugely popular during the Soviet era and has remained so in a career spanning more than 55 years. Galkin, a TV presenter now living abroad, has often criticized the war in Ukraine. Russian media reported that Pugacheva fled the country after the invasion began in February. She was seen in Moscow at the funeral of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on September 3. Russian authorities have clamped down on criticism of the war in Ukraine, fining and jailing dissenters. Many Russian artists who denounced the conflict had their shows cancelled. Pugacheva has met Russian President Vladimir Putin several times, but has never publicly supported him.
