Dhe Russian singer Yulia Chicherina has been accompanying her president’s land grab in Ukraine for a long time. She performed with songs about heroism and victory in the “People’s Republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk, adopting their “nationalities”. Kyiv has therefore put Chicherina on the wanted list. In contrast, she enjoys such goodwill in the Kremlin that she became one of Vladimir Putin’s “confidants” prior to his recent presidential election.
Chicherina follows the war enthusiastically, in the style of Soviet agitprop, but with channels on social media such as YouTube. In March, the singer hailed the occupation of the southern Ukrainian city of Melitopol as a “peaceful liberation” and pledged “Russia is here forever”. That’s what Kremlin officials are now saying about the newly occupied areas. Chicherina was just back in Melitopol, recalling the city’s time in Tsarist Russia’s Taurian Gubernate, formed 220 years ago, and saying it was “time to go home.” On her Telegram channel, the singer shared a photo of herself behind a sign with the name of the city written in Russian and below it, in front of the Russian tricolor, “Russia forever”.