The head of Kuzbass, Sergei Tsivilev, supported the initiative of the regional council of veterans to deprive comedian and TV presenter Maxim Galkin (included by the Ministry of Justice in the register of foreign agents) of regional awards. This was reported in Tsivilev’s telegram channel.
“The governor supported the request of the regional council of veterans to deprive the artist of Kuzbass awards: the medal “For Faith and Goodness”, presented to him in 2004, and the Order of Honor of Kuzbass, presented in 2013,” the message says.
The meeting of the Kemerovo regional veterans’ organization was held on January 10. It was decided to turn to Tsivilev with a corresponding request. As the veterans said, the awards received by Galkin are awarded to citizens for “active social activities aimed at the development of Kuzbass and Russia.” The appeal emphasized that Galkin, while in Dubai, during his speech, said “the slogan of Ukrainian nationalists” from the stage: when the audience shouted “glory to Ukraine” during the concert, the artist replied with the phrase “glory to the heroes.”
“Such a person who, in fact, betrayed the interests of his fatherland, is not worthy of his awards,” concluded the Kemerovo regional veteran organization.
In 2022, Galkin spoke out against the Russian military operation in Ukraine and after that, together with his wife Alla Pugacheva and two children, he left for Israel. He said that in Russia all advertising contracts fell through and concerts began to be cancelled. After the move, he began touring abroad and promised to transfer part of the proceeds from ticket sales to Ukrainian refugees.
In September last year, the Ministry of Justice included Galkin in the register of individuals – foreign agents. According to the department, he received money from Ukraine in the course of his political activities. Galkin himself called the reason for being recognized as a foreign agent far-fetched and stressed that he was not involved in political activities. “I do not sell my opinion and my thoughts. <...> I am not engaged in trade in conscience, ”the artist said, indicating that the last time he received Ukrainian funding was“ about ten years ago ”when he gave concerts there.
