One of Russia's most famous singers Alla Pugacheva - often nicknamed the queen of Soviet pop - could be branded a "foreign agent", state-run news agency RIA is reporting.
The 74-year-old - known across generations for hits such as the 1982 song "Million Scarlet Roses" and the 1978 film "The Woman who Sings" - has been a vocal critic of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
She signed a petition in 2014 against the persecution of Andrei Makarevich, who protested against the annexation of Crimea and war in Donbas.
The singer, and her husband, the satirist Maxim Galkin, left Russia for Israel shortly after the start of the 2022 invasion.
Galkin was branded a "foreign agent" in September that year, after which Pugacheva issued a statement condemning "the deaths of our men for the illusory goals that make our country an outcast and make life difficult for our citizens".
Russian prosecutors have now reportedly made a request to the country's justice ministry to brand Pugacheva as a "foreign agent".
The singer has in the past been feted by both President Vladimir Putin and his predecessor Boris Yeltsin.
When Mikhail Gorbachev died in 2022, she praised the last Soviet leader for allowing freedom and rejecting violence.
https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-war-russia-news-putin-nuclear-live-updates-kyiv-12541713
