Russia’s best-known pop singer is being sought after for her denunciation of the war in Ukraine after returning to Russia.
The Russian Orthodox Church, which strongly supports the Russian invasion, asked Alla Pugacheva for her comments.
Pugacheva left Russia for Israel with her husband, comedian and TV host Maxim Galkin, weeks after Russian troops entered Ukraine in February 2022.
According to Russian agencies, he returned this week.
Russians “who accompanied his departure by insulting their other peoples or making questionable statements apologize,” Church spokesman Vakhtang Kipshidze said via the official RIA-Novosti news agency.
In September last year, Pugacheva was quoted as saying that Russian infantrymen were dying for “illusory targets” and that the country had “a pariah. “
These comments attracted the attention of supporters and warring parties.
She also provocatively provoked the Russian government to designate her as a “foreign agent,” a prestige she has already applied to her husband.
Although Russia passed a law providing for criminal penalties or fines for denigrating the armed forces, Pugacheva has been charged.
The singer returned to Russia in May to attend the funeral of fashion designer Valentin Yudashkin.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noticed that he was kissing her hand.
Pugacheva’s decades-long career made her incredibly popular in Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union.
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has an update on the situation in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s advance in the south is “relatively static,” the Defense Ministry says, between the two lines of Russia’s “well-prepared defensive positions. “
Meanwhile, Russia’s large-scale attack on the town of Avdiivka in the Donbas has “failed in the face of strong Ukrainian defenses. “
The Defense Ministry said the offensives had been hampered by “the relative marginalization of tactical air power. “
He says both sides have strong air defenses that prevent fighter jets from delivering effective air aid strikes.
It also says the geographic scale of the fighting has had an additional impact on the offensives.
Both sides have struggled to make a breakthrough, as it takes the maximum of their troops to reach the 1,200-kilometer line of contact.
The map below shows the most recent territorial table of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky plans to hold presidential elections next spring, his foreign minister has said.
“We’re finalizing this page. The Ukrainian president is thinking and weighing the pros and cons,” Kuleba told a news conference.
He added that holding elections and war with Russia would bring with it “unprecedented” challenges.
Given the circumstances, presidential elections are expected to be held in March next year and Zelensky’s five-year term is expected to come to an end.
However, martial law and elections in Ukraine are suspended.
The U. S. House of Representatives has approved a Republican plan to provide aid solely to Israel, undermining Joe Biden’s proposal to combine aid to Israel with Ukraine.
Biden managed to get Congress to pass a $106 billion bill, most of which will go to Ukraine, but Republicans in the House have criticized the amount of aid going to Kyiv.
U. S. investment is important to Ukraine’s war effort, as Congress has approved $113 billion since the invasion began, far more than any other country.
Democrats, in the Senate, have said the Republican bill will not pass and the White House has vowed to veto it even if it passes.
While Democrats and many Republicans remain staunchly supportive of Ukraine, a small organization of vocal Republicans have questioned sending more cash to Kyiv, adding newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the NATO member could end up squandering its statehood if it continues on its current path, without elaborating.
Medvedev, who once presented himself as a liberal modernizer, has become a fiercely anti-Western hawk in the Kremlin, lashing out with insults on social media.
The Kremlin has denied reports that the Wagner Group intends to send a Russian air defense formula to the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, which has been exchanging fire with Israel across its border since Oct. 7.
The Wall Street Journal quoted U. S. officials as saying that the SA-22 formula had been provided to Syria, where Hezbollah and Wagner fighters are present, and that it could be sent to the Lebanese organization with the blessing of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. .
Hezbollah has engaged in skirmishes with the Israel Defense Forces and has threatened to intensify its attacks since Hamas attacked Israel just a month ago.
Russia has rejected new U. S. sanctions on drone networks and energy production.
“This is a continuation of the policy of provoking us, as they call it, a strategic defeat,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Russian state television.
“They’ll have to wait in vain before that happens. “
Among the sanctions are measures taken on the Siberian Arctic LNG 2 liquefied vegetable fuel project.
Leonid Mikhelson, head of Russian herbal fuel maker Novatek, said the sanctions are an “assessment of our professionalism. “
The sanctions explain it: The West, among other measures, has frozen billions of dollars in Russian cash since the start of the war, hurting the Russian economy.
But hopes of fueling an immediate crisis in a $2. 1 trillion economy with some of the toughest sanctions ever imposed have materialized.
Vladimir Putin even joked that the sanctions had not prevented the import of Western goods such as luxury Mercedes into Russia and that Moscow would try to undermine the sanctions by buying what it sought in global markets.
The attacks on Kharkiv we reported this morning are some of what turned out to be one of the largest drone attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks.
Critical infrastructure was hit in western and southern Ukraine, homes and large warehouses were destroyed in the northeast and air defenses were active in 10 regions, officials said.
Drones were introduced through Russia in Karkhiv (northeast), Odessa and Kherson (south) and Lviv (west), with 24 Shahed variants and one missile shot down, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.
The drones were introduced in several waves and flew in small teams to other regions of Ukraine, with air alerts lasting several hours, the air force said.
One facility was hit five times in Lviv, according to its governor, Maksym Kozytskiy.
A military installation was attacked in the nearby Ivano-Frankivsk region, Gov. Svitlana Onishchuk said.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said eight houses, a three-story building, several cars and a car repair shop were vandalized in Kharkiv.
Ukrainian officials and British military intelligence expect Russian airstrikes to target Ukraine’s power formula for a second winter.
Footage released through Ukraine’s emergency service shows firefighters battling a blaze they say was caused by a Russian drone.
According to regional authorities, Shahed drones were introduced into Kharkiv, near the northeastern border, setting fire to garages and several shops.
The Wagner Group is making plans to supply air defense systems to Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia, according to the Wall Street Journal.
He reported that the United States had reportedly said that the mercenary organization intended to deliver the Russian SA-22 system, which is armed with missiles and anti-aircraft guns, calling it a primary concern.
The formula was provided to Syria, where Hezbollah and Wagner fighters are present, and would be sent to the Lebanese organization with the blessing of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to a source familiar with U. S. intelligence reports.
Hezbollah has been exchanging fire with Israel across the Lebanese border since Oct. 7, fearing that the skirmishes could escalate into a war border.
Its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, is expected to deliver a speech this afternoon, which may provide clues about the option of Hezbollah joining the standoff between Hamas and Israel.
Hezbollah is subsidized through Iran, which has the main supplier of drones to Russia.