Shaman and Yekaterina Mizulina sign the marriage register in Donetsk, occupied eastern Ukraine. Photo: Telegram
Two of the Kremlin’s most outspoken public supporters, the head of Russia’s Safe Internet League Yekaterina Mizulina and Russian nationalist pop star Shaman, on Wednesday announced that they had got married in the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.
In a clip of the ceremony that they both shared, the pair can be seen wearing military-style jackets surrounded by friends and bodyguards at a Donetsk wedding palace. While it was widely known that the two staunch Putinists were dating, the marriage itself was not announced ahead of time.
The daughter of an ultra conservative Russian Senator, Mizulina, 41, became known for heading The Safe Internet League, an organisation bankrolled by ultraconservative oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev, which was theoretically set up to protect children online, but which in reality has become instrumental in directing Russia’s censorship apparatus.
Thirty-three-year-old Shaman, whose real name is Yaroslav Dronov, has been married twice before, and only divorced his second wife, businesswoman Yelena Martynova, last year. His career took off following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 when he released a number of “patriotic” songs, including his best-known hit, I’m Russian.
Repeatedly expressing his support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and regularly performing at Kremlin-backed events, Shaman even travelled to North Korea in August to perform alongside other Russian artists at an event to mark the 80th anniversary of the country’s liberation from Japanese rule.
