Popular Russian singer Alla Pugacheva challenged the Moscow authorities to declare her a "foreign agent", as did her husband, comedian Maxim Galkin.

Kevin Rothrock, director of the independent Russian site Meduza, reports on Twitter.       

Pugacheva's post on Telegram also lashes out against the war in Ukraine, urging to put an end to "the death of our children for illusory purposes that have made our country a pariah".

The message, the Guardian recalls, comes after her husband was declared a foreign agent yesterday for criticizing the war in Ukraine.       

Beloved throughout Russia and in the former Soviet republics, Pugacheva is the best known Russian pop singer, a guest in the past also in Sanremo.

She and her husband fled to Israel after the Russian invasion of Ukraine which she has always opposed.

Pugacheva represented Russia at Eurovision in 1997 and is a hugely popular star in Russia.

"I ask you to please include me in the group of foreign agents of my beloved country in solidarity with my husband, an honest, decent and sincere person," Pugacheva, 73, wrote on September 18 on her verified account.

On Friday, the Ministry of Justice included her husband, actor Maxim Galkin, on the list of foreign agents.   

The announcement of Pugacheva's solidarity with her husband and her criticisms of the war are significant because she belongs to the generation of President Vladimir Putin and is a singer loved by the elderly who tend to support the Kremlin.

"I sympathize with my husband, an honest, respectable and sincere man, a true and unforgettable Russian patriot, who wishes our homeland prosperity, a peaceful life, freedom of speech and please stop killing our boys for purposes illusory making our country a pariah and complicating the lives of citizens ", wrote the 73-year-old diva.        

Pugacheva has been a superstar in Russia since the 1970s and her achievements survived the collapse of the USSR.

Until the invasion of Ukraine she was a constant presence on television and in the tabloids, where her marriage to 27-year-old Galkin, the latest in a tumultuous love life, had long held sway.        

Unlike her husband, Pugacheva had not publicly attacked the Russian leadership after choosing to take refuge in Israel.

Today's post on Instagram about her makes even more noise for this.

According to Abbas Galliamov, former author of Putin's speeches, this is a real "slap in the face" for the Kremlin.

"If there are still important people in Russia on whom there is a general consensus, then of course Pugacheva is one of them", noted on Telegram the political scientist, now very critical of the Kremlin. 

Alla Pugacheva has always stayed away from politics, her politicization can bring within society a feeling of "we have had enough" that the authorities may deem threatening, she added.

Labeling someone as a "foreign agent" in Russia is often the first sign of serious trouble on the part of the authorities.

Labeling has negative connotations that come from the Soviet era and whoever is declared as such must clearly mention it on all the content it publishes. 

In the past Pugacheva was celebrated by both Putin and Boris Yeltsin.

When Mikhail Gorbachev died, the singer praised the last Soviet leader who granted freedom and rejected violence.