Zakharova responded to fans of Pugacheva, who called Dudaev a "decent" person

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, commented on the positive statements of Maria Zakharova, who left in the spring of 2022 with her family from Russia to Israel singer Alla Pugacheva, who gave the leader of the Chechen separatists Dzhokhar Dudaev a positive characterization.

As the diplomat stated, "if you don't want to be disappointed, you don't have to be fascinated."

"There is nothing exclusive about this phrase, there is nothing particularly wise about it. The wisdom is that as it is written in Holy Scripture: "Do not make yourself an idol." But it is not necessary to endow people with those qualities that they have never possessed. Well, it was not necessary to think of what is not," Zakharova said on Sputnik radio.

The official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation added that "it is not necessary to invent that a person who is a representative of a profession that is not professionally related, from the point of view of education, from the point of view of experience [related] to the construction of the state, with public service, with military service, can become such a guru on all issues."

As previously reported, lawyer and veteran of military operations in Afghanistan Alexander Treshchev demanded through the court to recover 1.5 billion rubles from pop singer Alla Pugacheva, the Izvestia newspaper wrote. In his statement of claim, the lawyer pointed out that the actress in a recent interview with journalist Katerina Gordeeva❶ positively characterized the first president of the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic Ichkeria Dudaev, who was liquidated in 1996 by a Su-24 bomber strike.

"I especially remember the first Chechen [war] because I knew Dzhokhar Dudayev. He was so decent, decent, intelligent, handsome man ...", — said Pugacheva.

Pugacheva's husband, humorist Maxim Galkin ❶ is recognized in the Russian Federation as a foreign agent.

In May 2025, Deputy Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation Olena Sviridenko told TASS that there are currently no grounds for recognizing Pugacheva as a foreign agent due to the absence of violations of the law on her part.

❶An individual performing the functions of a foreign agent