Antonia Langford
Vladimir Putin’s favourite pop star has become the “most hated woman in Russia” after a court case left a young mother homeless and $2 million out of pocket.
Larisa Dolina, 70, a Kremlin-decorated performer and prominent supporter of the war against Ukraine, was swindled out of 175 million roubles ($3.3 million) last year by scammers posing as Russian security officials.
Dolina sold her Moscow apartment to 34-year-old Polina Lurye, paying the proceeds to the fraudsters.
In an attempt to reclaim her losses, Dolina asked a judge to return the apartment to her, even though the sale was completed and Lurye had paid in full.
The judge agreed, leaving Lurye without the apartment or the 112 million roubles she had paid. A Moscow court ruled that Lurye should recover the money from the fraudsters who had targeted Dolina.
The affair has become a cause celebre in Russia, fuelled by the perception that proximity to the Kremlin can translate into legal privilege for pro-government figures.
Dmitry Svishchev, a Russian politician, described it as a “national disaster”, while Maria Zakharova, a Kremlin spokesman, warned that Russia’s “enemies” were exploiting the scandal as part of a “hybrid war” to “provoke a clash between people”.
In a country where even oblique dissent from the government line can carry penalties, the perceived David-and-Goliath struggle has become a rare lightning rod for anti-elite sentiment.
An exuberant performer known for extravagant, glittering outfits, Dolina fought back tears in an unusually sombre, all-black appearance on Russian state television last week as she issued a public apology.
Such is the scale of the backlash that even Burger King has effectively sanctioned Dolina, refusing to deliver to her apartment until the funds are returned to Lurye in full.
The pop star fell victim to the scam when fraudsters posing as agents from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and Rosfinmonitoring financial watchdog convinced her that criminals were trying to seize her property.
Believing the threat was real, she sold the apartment in Moscow’s upmarket Khamovniki district for 112 million roubles, topping up the proceeds with savings and loans from friends to hand over 175 million roubles in cash to the scammers.
Only later did she realise she had been duped, at which point she refused to hand over the keys to Lurye.
Dolina later alleged the scammers were operating from Ukraine. Around the same time, her Instagram account was reportedly hacked to post pro-Ukrainian content.
In March 2025, a Russian court backed Dolina’s appeal to annul the sale, ruling that Lurye should seek compensation from the fraudsters instead. A subsequent appeal in late November upheld the decision.
On Tuesday, Russia’s supreme court recognised Lurye’s ownership of the flat, but allowed Dolina to continue living there until a lower court considers a counter-claim for forced eviction.
A Lenta.ru survey of nearly 32,000 respondents found that 95 per cent of Russians “condemned” Dolina over the case, as memes portraying her as pop-culture villains flooded social media.
Slava, the pro-Kremlin singer also known as Anastasia Slanevskaya, threatened legal action, claiming she could not sell her own apartment after buyers pulled out over fears that the saga could be repeated.
Nikita Dzhigurda, an actor, also weighed in, accusing Dolina of “robbing innocent people” and calling for the court’s decision to be overturned.
The website The Bell dubbed her “the most hated woman in Russia”.
During her tearful television appearance, Dolina apologised again and pledged to repay Lurye in instalments, but was criticised online for what some called “crocodile tears”.
A long-time Putin ally, Dolina has performed for Russian veterans in occupied Ukrainian regions and appears on a list of individuals deemed enemies of the Ukrainian state.
She sang the national anthem alongside Putin at celebrations marking the annexation of Crimea in 2015 and received the Order of Friendship from the president in 2019.
In a warm birthday message posted on the Kremlin’s website in September, Putin praised her “generous, unique talent” and “vibrant artistic temperament”.
The EU, Canada, Monaco and Switzerland have sanctioned Dolina for supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine through performances at state events.
The saga has even coined a new term – the “Dolina effect” – to describe disruption in Russia’s secondary property market caused by a collapse in trust between buyers and sellers.
The Telegraph, London
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