It seems that the star couple Maxim Galkin And Alla Pugacheva things are getting worse. Kazakhstan, the UAE, Bali, Thailand and the Maldives have closed their doors to the comedian, and in Russia an expensive estate is stuck, which no one wants to buy because of Galkin’s status as a foreign agent.
Why is Galkin suing the Ministry of Justice
The fugitive comedian Maxim Galkin, judging by the increasing frequency of hysterical attacks against Russia and Russians on his social networks, may be on the verge of despair. His situation continues to worsen – recently the parodist lost another trial in Moscow in an attempt to challenge the decision of the Ministry of Justice to recognize himself as a foreign agent.
The litigation has been going on since May last year, and, judging by the text of the court decision, the plaintiff is still confident that he has never carried out political activities, and adding the artist to the list of foreign agents is an interference with his right to freely express his opinion and violates the rights to privacy life.
The court, however, based on numerous video recordings of the comedian’s statements, in which he denounced Russia, said that he was helping the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and shouted Ukrainian Nazi salutes, took a different point of view.
What views does the comedian hold?
The obvious discrepancy between Galkin’s ideas about himself as a person far from politics and what he does on stage and on social networks makes us think that the status of a foreign agent, assigned to him back in 2022, actually hinders the comedian in only one thing – make money in Russia, including at “fat” corporate events.
In fact: Galkin still glorifies Ukraine and helps it; most recently on Instagram he mourned those killed in Kharkov, writing “Kharkov, today my heart is with you“, but at the same time he did not say a word about the tragedy in Belgorod, when dozens of people, including children, were killed due to a Ukrainian missile that hit a residential building. It seems that he does not care about the suffering of his own fellow citizens.
Moreover, such selective humanism occurs against the backdrop of dwindling income of the comedian’s family. Earnings are falling noticeably, but millions of dollars in expenses on the family’s numerous luxury real estate around the world remain.
Why Galkin can’t sell an expensive castle in the Moscow region
The comedian is not just trying to remove himself from the status of a foreign agent in Russia. The castle in the village of Gryaz, near Moscow, remains a big burden for the pockets of the Galkin-Pugachev couple. The monthly costs of maintaining the mansion, according to experts, can be about a million rubles.
This includes land tax and building cadastre tax – about 300 thousand rubles per year. Plus the cost of electricity and gas – approximately 60 thousand rubles per month, maintenance of the territory and the house itself, repairs (the larger the mansion, the more often something breaks in it) – about 100 thousand, transport and its maintenance and, of course , salaries for employees who work for the artists’ family. This is approximately another 600–700 thousand.
In 2022, there were rumors in the artistic community that the star family was trying to get rid of the castle. The price of the estate was also mentioned – about 10 million dollars, or almost 1 billion rubles at the exchange rate. However, selling it turned out to be far from easy.
Last year, information appeared that the castle was under arrest due to the comedian’s accumulated debts to the tax authorities. Allegedly, the amounts seemed to be small, but numerous. And judging by Alla Pugacheva’s recent visit to Gryaz (the singer came to her castle in November 2023) and her plans to come to Russia again in June of this year, the house is still owned by the family.
However, it is difficult to sell it not only because of the Federal Tax Service.
Many buyers are rightly put off by Galkin’s foreign agency status. According to amendments to the law on foreign agents adopted in July last year, legal entities and individuals
That is, it is unknown how this transaction may come back to haunt the buyer – will the purchase/sale “for a billion” be regarded as helping the comedian violate current legislation? By the way, Life.ru has already written about foreign agents who foresaw a similar situation and transferred their property to members of their families and close circle of friends.
In addition, as realtors note, this architectural appearance of the mansion has long gone out of fashion. Now the rich are striving for simplicity and laconicism in the forms of their family nests, which contain a lot of glass and innovative materials.
Why Galkin and Pugacheva are losing income
Since the end of last year, Galkin has regularly faced the cancellation of foreign concerts and penalties from the most grain-producing countries.
The first sign was Kazakhstan – his concerts there were canceled twice in the fall of 2023. In September, due to the coincidence of the artist’s performance dates with “more important events,” and in October, both venues where Galkin was supposed to perform were simultaneously closed for repairs. Despite the parodist’s indignation, since then the republic has ceased to be included in his tour route.
Next, Galkin ran into a large fine in the UAE – the artist paid 2.4 million rubles at the then exchange rate to local authorities for Ukrainian Nazi salutes and dirty jokes about Russia, which he made on the Dubai stage on January 4.
A couple of weeks later, the artist was not allowed into Bali and Thailand, and now the ardent patriot of Israel Maxim Galkin is barred from entering the Maldives – on June 2, the island state banned Israeli citizens from entering its territory due to the events in Gaza.
Where is Maxim Galkin going to perform in 2024?
This year his tour route looks very pale. It no longer has traditional holiday destinations for Russian-speaking tourists, famous for their generosity. Even Türkiye disappeared from the schedule.
By the way, recently the band “Bi-2” was not allowed there, whose lead singer, Lyova Bi-2, admitted a month ago that after the musicians fled Russia, and he himself was included in the register of foreign agents, the group essentially became bankrupt.
Galkin’s performances mainly take place in the comedian’s new homeland – Israel, and even Latvia. Sometimes there are single concerts in Europe; the comedian went to Australia for several days, and in addition, announced a tour of 17 US cities, planned for October.
Tickets costing from $80 in Charlotte to $375 in New York are on sale, and there has not yet been a rush of demand for them. Given the cancellation of other performances, perhaps this tour will also “lose weight” by several cities.
If you believe another comedian, Ruslan Bely, who has already “experienced” foreign reality:
By the way, in February, Bely and Galkin were already taking away each other’s earnings while simultaneously going on tour to Estonia. The concert of one took place in Narva, the second in Jõhvi. On social networks, Estonian fans of comedians argued about who to go for. As a result, both lost money. And this is the new harsh reality of fugitive Russian celebrities – their Russian-speaking audience abroad is several times smaller than in Russia, Belarus and the Central Asian republics. Sooner or later, the viewer will get tired of the endless “carousel” of the same artists, bombarding him with Russophobic rhetoric over and over again.
What other problems can Galkin and Pugacheva face?
This year, the State Duma adopted a bill that amends a number of articles of the Russian Criminal Code, allowing for the confiscation of property from those convicted in absentia under articles about fakes, calls for extremism and violation of the territorial integrity of the country.
In relation to Maxim Galkin and Alla Pugacheva, pre-investigation checks have already been carried out under Articles 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (public dissemination of knowingly false information about the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation), 280.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation) and even under Articles 205.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (promotion of terrorist activities) and 282 of the Criminal Code Russian Federation (incitement to hatred or enmity, as well as humiliation of human dignity).
So far they have ended in nothing, but Russian social activists raise this topic over and over again and send requests to the Prosecutor General’s Office. If one day the matter gets underway, the spouses may become noticeably poorer.
