Vera Brezhneva, an ex-member of the VIA Gra group, who condemned the SVO, admitted that she sends all the money she earns to the needs of Ukraine. Like many other artists from Nezalezhnaya, who got rich and held in Russia, she is trying to please the Ukrainian authorities.
Where is Brezhnev now
As it turned out, no one needs Brezhnev. Despite the wide opportunities of the producer and husband Konstantin Meladze and a powerful PR campaign in the Ukrainian media, her patriotic efforts seem to have gone unnoticed either in Ukraine or abroad.
For some time after the start of the SVO, the singer was silent, only occasionally posting tearful comments on the situation on her Instagram *. Since then, she has released only a couple of new songs in Ukrainian.
Then there were rumors that Brezhnev drove off to her villa in Italy and has since been living and working there. However, the other day, singer Laima Vaikule said that she actually lives in Latvia, occupies a mansion in the neighborhood and is even going to perform at the next festival of her Latvian colleague.
Why did the singer change her name
Be that as it may, the former member of VIA Gra gave the first concert after escaping from Russia in Riga. It happened in December last year. Before the audience, the artist appeared in a new image: she publicly refused the pseudonym Brezhnev, saying that now she is just Vera.
– I’m Vera. I am Ukrainian. Now there is a war in my country, so there is no time for concerts at all. But I could no longer sit and just do good deeds,” the singer told her fans.
Interestingly, a couple of years ago, Brezhneva claimed the exact opposite: she asked not to be called a Ukrainian singer, since she never participated in music shows in Nezalezhnaya, did not sing songs in Ukrainian, and her first concert took place in St. Petersburg . It is also significant that out of 18 songs performed at the concert in Riga, 17 were in Russian.
The last couple of months, judging by the activity of the Ukrainian media, Brezhnev is trying to return to the Ukrainian showbiz. The local information field was flooded with articles about how heroically the singer left everything in Moscow and returned to her Ukrainian roots.
On Valentine’s Day, the singer performed in one of the elite Kyiv restaurants, and information spread on the Web that the star is ready to perform at holidays and corporate events to order. The blue-eyed blonde cut her hair short, dyed her hair brunette, and now appears before the public in a rough jumpsuit and massive black boots.
“I looked very deeply into myself over the past year, today I feel different, and everything is different now,” Brezhnev commented on the changes in appearance.
Such a favorable attitude towards the singer on the part of the Kyiv authorities and, accordingly, the media contrasts sharply with the position towards her colleague from VIA Gre Svetlana Loboda. Recall that Loboda also sharply condemned the SVO and left Russia, also helped the Ukrainian military with finances, however, unlike Brezhneva, in Kyiv she was even forbidden to hold charity concerts. Perhaps the whole point is that, as they say, a very daring singer in life at one time did not agree with Konstantin Meladze in character.
Vera has always been faithful to her producer and eventually even married him. Until recent events, her career was only uphill. Despite the absence of a Russian passport, all the scenes of Russia were open to the singer. Earnings were in the millions. However, the SVO made its own adjustments.
Where Brezhnev lived in Russia
In general, despite the reputation of the Russian star, neither Brezhnev nor her husband lived in Russia permanently, but rather came from Europe to work. When the couple finally left Russia for Italy in 2022, surrounded by Konstantin Meladze, they gossiped that the 60-year-old producer was tired of creative activity and wanted to live in peace in retirement at a resort.
Meladze began to get rid of property in Moscow and, according to rumors, in the winter and spring he sold his mansion in the elite village of Millennium Park near Moscow, which became widely known due to the fact that marathon runner Elena Blinovskaya is now under house arrest.
The village is located 25 kilometers from Moscow along New Riga, on the territory there is an extensive park area with lakes and canals. Neighbors are respectable people, because prices for local real estate start from 140 million rubles for cottages with an area of 200-300 square meters.
According to media reports, the Meladze-Brezhneva couple occupied a large three-story house with an area of 700 square meters on a plot of 36 acres. The first floor is a huge living room with panoramic windows and a fireplace. There is also a kitchen-dining room, a bedroom, a garage and two bathrooms. If you go up the stairs to the second floor, you can see three bedrooms with dressing rooms. The third floor is an attic.
At the end of February, photographs of the mansion appeared on websites selling real estate at a price of 300 million rubles, but by today, the ad has already disappeared from public access.
Why Brezhnev avoids Ukraine
Judging by the social networks of the singer, the boring life of a pensioner in Italy does not please her. The couple, according to Brezhneva herself, began to quarrel, at the end of March the girl packed her bags and left for the USA, where her daughter Sonya lives from a past relationship, and after a couple of months, Laima Vaikule announced that the singer lives in Latvia.
This year, Brezhnev began to sing more and more often in Ukrainian. On the one hand, this is apparently done to update their repertoire for the Ukrainian listener, on the other hand, to express support for the Kyiv regime. However, even in the Ukrainian segment of social networks, they do not have much success – unlike the media loyal to the singer, ordinary Ukrainians, judging by the comments, are not ready to forgive the artist for her life and work in Moscow.
The question of whether the Ukrainian media loyal to the new Vera will be able to overcome public opinion remains open – all Ukrainian poster sites are silent about the singer’s tour in Ukraine, and on June 12 it became known that four concerts of the artist in Spain and Portugal were unexpectedly canceled at once. In her social networks, Brezhneva complained that the organizers came up with this decision when her team was finishing setting up the equipment in the hall.
What business does the singer have
Despite the absence of Russian citizenship, Vera Kiperman (the official name of the artist) is still registered in the Russian Unified State Register of Legal Entities and as an individual entrepreneur with a field of activity in the field of performing arts, and as the owner of a clothing company located in St. Petersburg.
However, as Brezhnev’s IP, it turned out to be much more successful: if her company Myseasons has only generated losses in recent years, then the cost of the services of an individual entrepreneur as a singer in the best years reached 4.5 million rubles for a corporate party. At the same time, Brezhneva did not disdain state contracts for holding concerts and even received financial state support as a subject of SMEs.
The former Russian pop star is actively engaged in business in Ukraine. In addition to its own Ukrainian IP, Life found it among the founders of five legal entities at once. Three of them are a group of companies under the common name “Inveria” with a field of activity in the field of organizing various congresses and exhibitions.
The company owns at least part of the premises of the business center located on Volodymyrska Street, in the very center of Kyiv, at the Golden Gate and a couple of blocks from Khreshchatyk. Judging by the large number of press releases in which Inveria appears, various public and private institutions of science and education, trade unions, etc. like to use the services of Brezhnev’s company.
The fourth enterprise is called “Vera Brezhneva”, organizes the singer’s concerts in Ukraine, and the fifth – “Vibrand” – appeared quite recently – in 2021. The company produces perfumes and cosmetics under the Vera brand. It is interesting that the well-known Russian make-up artist from the top Russian gloss Nika Kislyak, who worked with runaways Renata Litvinova and Ingeborga Dapkunaite, took part in this project.
Where does Brezhnev live in Kyiv?
In all the cards of Brezhneva’s firms in the Ukrainian analogue of the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, the same address of registration of the singer in Kyiv is indicated: an apartment in a house on Saksaganskogo Street – in the central part of the city not far from the Olimpiysky sports complex. Interestingly, in August last year, a huge penthouse without finishing was sold here for 310 thousand dollars (about 26 million rubles at the current exchange rate of the Central Bank).
Another apartment is located in the historic district of the city – on Podil – between Andreevsky Spusk and Verkhniy Val Street. The singer acquired this house after her divorce from the Dnepropetrovsk oligarch Mikhail Kiperman in 2013. The artist owns a penthouse with an area of approximately 80 square meters and a parking space in the next entrance. According to Kyiv realtors, at the time of purchase, the living space cost Brezhneva about $350,000.
The singer also owns a five-room apartment in a pre-revolutionary house on Desyatinnaya Street, located between St. Andrew’s Church and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Now the cost of this housing can reach 1.5 million dollars. In addition, the singer owns two more commercial premises in new buildings in the Pechersk district.
