Alla Pugacheva has been, by far, Russia's biggest pop star for 50 years, with fame rivalling Abba and Madonna and far outstripping that of Anna Netrebko, a Russian classical diva. She never joined the Communist Party and never craved the attention of its leaders, though they craved hers. Uniquely among Soviet pop stars, she projected the supreme value of inner freedom; her songs were free from ideology. In a country where the party imposed constraints on sexuality, privacy, fashion and music, she embodied the dreams of Soviet women. She was equally loved by ordinary people, intellectuals, dissidents and those in power.
She sang for the crews who moved in after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, who in the face of death asked for oranges and for Ms Pugacheva. Mikhail Gorbachev once asked for her advice on how to conduct interviews and engage with the public.
She left Moscow in 2022, saying her conscience had become incompatible with staying in Russia and keeping silent after the war began. On September 10th 2025 she gave her first big interview since leaving, filmed at her house on the Baltic Sea in Latvia. It racked up 19m views in a week and 150,000 comments from people in Russia, Ukraine and Russian-speakers worldwide. Looking straight into the camera, she addressed Vladimir Putin, for whom she once voted: "Just end it."
Slow day. Practice crawling.