The Investigative Committee did not open cases against Pugacheva and Galkin under the article about fakes about the army

The Investigative Committee did not initiate criminal cases against artists Alla Pugacheva and Maxim Galkin (recognized as a foreign agent) under the article on discrediting the Russian army and returned the materials to the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Moscow. This was reported by TASS with reference to law enforcement agencies.

According to the agency, an inspection was carried out against Alla Pugacheva under Part 1 of Art. 207. 3 of the Criminal Code (dissemination of false information about the Russian army), as well as under Part 1 of Art. 208.3 of the Criminal Code (public actions aimed at discrediting the Russian army). “No grounds for initiating a criminal case were found, the materials were returned,” the TASS interlocutor said, without specifying which publications of the artist were subject to verification.

Grounds for initiating a case against Maxim Galkin under Part 1 of Art. 207.3 of the Criminal Code was also not found. According to the agency’s interlocutor, investigators studied his “negative statements” about the Russian government and armed forces, as well as “a video recording with deliberately false information about the shelling of a residential building in Odessa.”

On October 12, at a plenary meeting of the State Duma, deputies accepted a protocol instruction to the Security Committee to send a request to the Prosecutor General’s Office to check eight Russians for providing assistance to the armed forces of Ukraine (treason, Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Among these Russians was Maxim Galkin. The protocol instruction includes a link to Reels from an unknown user from the YouTube video hosting site, on which Maxim Galkin speaks out about the actions of the Russian leadership.

Alla Pugacheva and Maxim Galkin left for Israel in the spring of 2022, after which Mr. Galkin repeatedly spoke out against Russia’s actions in Ukraine. In September 2022, the Ministry of Justice added Maxim Galkin to the register of foreign agents. After this, Alla Pugacheva asked to be included in this register, since she “stands in solidarity with her husband.”