"Conscience is more expensive than fame"

Alla Pugacheva gave the first big interview since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. The singer talked with Ekaterina Gordeeva about emigration, politics and work

Russian singer Alla Pugacheva for the first time in many years gave a great interview. She told the journalist Ekaterina Gordeeva about why she decided to leave the country, although she had not previously imagined her life without her homeland, about her main values, about creativity, beloved artists and family.

The New Gazeta Europe briefly retells the main fragments from a 3.5-hour interview.

The conversation took place in the villa in Jurmala, which the Pugacheva family rents during the holidays. The singer set a simple and homemade interview, deprived of pathos. She emphasized: luxury has never been important to her, much more valuable - the health of children, her husband and happiness in the family.

Pugacheva with humor spoke of age: "The burners are shaking, but her hands are not." She admitted that she agreed to an interview for the sake of children - to leave them a “document of the era”, to tell the truth about mom and dad.

“I have someone for and why live. I have a goal, I am happy. It is unpleasant for someone to hear this, but I am satisfied with my life, ”she said.

Gordeeva admitted that the interview would be biased, because she is a fan of the singer, but asked to answer questions honestly. Pugacheva immediately agreed: “Katya, when did I answer dishonestly? In any image, you must remain an honest person. ”

February 2022

Pugacheva described in detail how she decided to leave Russia. At first, when a full -scale war in Ukraine began, she was not going to leave the Russian Federation, but after rumors on the Internet that she allegedly fled, and it became clear that this was the only right decision with Sergey Kiriyenko.

The first deputy head of the Russian Presidential Administration, Sergei Kiriyenko, met with the singer shortly after her husband Maxim Galkin recorded the first anti -war appeal to his audience in social networks. Kiriyenko told Pugacheva that Galkin speaks too freely.

On the table, the singer recalls him, all evidence of the artist’s anti -war performances were laid out in a printed form.

“You would warn you that there is no longer a freedom of speech,” said Pugacheva.

“Do not worry, everything is fine,” Kiriyenko convinced.

Pugacheva recalls that although she trusted the official, she still felt that something was wrong. Two days later, Galkin was recognized as an “ino -agent”, and the children began to poison at school. Then the family collected suitcases, took 30 thousand dollars that could be transported, and left for Israel. At that time, they did not have the citizenship of this country.

“There is such a thing, Katya, like a conscience. And conscience is more expensive than fame, luxury, most expensive, ”explained Pugacheva.

She is surprised that in Russia some call her a traitor, as if someone "fed his whole life from a spoon."

“But I studied, worked. And then, any person has the right to leave if he is offended for no reason. [...] I do not want to end my life again with Stalinism. I was born with Stalinism - there were continuous prohibitions, even after his death. Then they showed how the crowds sobbed, but in fact there was such a holiday, ”says the singer.

Relations with the Russians

“I said: I will leave my homeland only if it betrays me. And she betrayed me. But I am not betrayed by millions of fans in Russia and other countries. I am always very happy when they write and send me a video, ”the singer admitted.

She remembered that back in Soviet times, she refused very tempting foreign proposals, because she could not imagine life outside Russia. Now, "not only represents, but also lives like that."

For example, once the Swedish group ABBA offered Pugacheva to participate in the record of the musical Shah-Mata. The Russian singer really wanted to agree, but refused due to anxiety for the family: the USSR Ministry of Culture considered such cooperation “inappropriate”.

Creativity and scene

During a walk along the embankment, one woman on Ukrainian thanked Alla Borisovna for supporting the country. Pugacheva answered "uncle" ( "thank you" in Ukrainian ). Then she was also welcomed by women in Russian: “We adore you! Bravo!" People of different ages photographed the singer on the phone.

“I am an introvert, what to take from me. Therefore, the scene is my salvation, because people are far in the hall: I do not see them, but I feel and begin to love. And in life I am afraid and begin to be shy of excess attention. I am liberating on the stage, ”comments Pugacheva.

She shared that she never loved the nickname Primadonna: “This is the name of the song. I am a woman who sings. "

She spoke warmly about the coin, Stas Piekhe, Dima Bilan and other artists. “Manizh is a brilliant singer. She could become a singer of an international level, ”says the artist. However, she critically looks at the modern stage: "Now is the time when the old people are still singing, and the young people have not yet appeared." At the same time, Pugacheva monitors young artists, for example, notes the singer Zhor Granda.

- For the popularity of Hope Kadysheva, I am very happy. I remembered her many years ago from the anniversary of the journal "Worker". The girl in a jacket sang so cool. Her popularity is now due to the fact that a person is always looking for a source of optimism: he lacks joy. I would run to her concert myself, - Pugacheva shared.

Gordeeva asked the singer about the attitude to the shaman (real name - Yaroslav Dronov), whom she supported at the very beginning of his career.

- I really saw that this is a star. Charisma, the voice is strong, the image is modest. I really believed in him and did not expect that he would turn into such a character. He is an amazing performer of Russian folk songs. Now it hurts to look at it: the loot won good. Songs are not words and music. If you do not invest [in songs] of love for people, they will not reach them, no matter how loudly you sang, ”answered Pugacheva.

Personal life and family

Pugacheva admitted that she married Philip Kirkorov in order to support him and fulfill the request of the singer’s dying mother. With Galkin, everything was different - "love, absolute harmony, friendship, understanding, support." Galkin himself was not in an interview, but the son and daughter of the couple appeared in the frame.

Alla Borisovna called the birth of her daughter Christina Orbakaite the happiest day of her life.

The singer paid a lot of attention in an interview to a story about her family and her own biography. At one point, she clarified that she really wanted to find out whether she was a Jewish, and made a DNA test. “I am not a Jewish, but I am half Polish,” Pugacheva recognized.

Views on politics and power

“I never wanted to be my own for the authorities,” Pugacheva emphasized. She remembered that in the early 2000s she voted for Putin, believing that he was saying “very correct things, including about Ukraine” (at that time Putin spoke about the independence of a neighboring country), but was disappointed after the story with the Kursk submarine: “I waited for him to come running, but he did not come.”

Pugacheva sharply condemned the denunciations, calling them a “fungus of the country”, and noted: “Any power in the Soviet Union and Russia is characterized by pride. And pride is a sin. ”

The singer never had ideas to go to big politics, although in the 90s a new period began in her work, and she had already become an authoritative person in show business.

- The gangster world respected me. When they killed [journalist] Vlad Listyev, I was in a hysterical state. In principle, I know why [killed], it was a financial issue, a deed of everything. I felt so sorry for him, ”recalls Pugacheva.

- And then you said that they kill everyone who stands out. But you will not shoot everyone, ”said Gordeeva.

- I'll pay now. Even if I were taken away after these words, I would say them, ” the singer adds.

Gordeeva reminded how in 2012 Pugacheva said in an interview with journalist Vladimir Pozner that "we are standing on the edge." The journalist asked that the singer had already had an understanding that something wrong was happening. At the same time, Pugacheva had good relations with then President Dmitry Medvedev. She did not expect that he would change so over the years - like Vladimir Putin.

“You can’t imagine how sorry I am because all this is happening [in Ukraine].” Then everything will end and it will be normal again, but you will not return people. Breeded fates, injured children, ”she says.

Pugacheva explains Gordeeva: "I have a chuke."

The journalist asks: "Then say what will happen next!"

Pugacheva: "I know, but I have no right to speak."

Gordeeva: "At least hint!"

Pugacheva: “Let's live until 2027. Remember: 2027. "

She speaks calmly about death: “I would not want to be weak and did not want severe pain. But in a beautiful deep old age I would like to go out like a candle. Let Mozart or something like that sounds. ”