Pavel Maykov on the war

On May 9, 2020, he spoke out harshly in an interview regarding the militarization of society and the so-called «Victory frenzy» («pobedobesie»):

Victory Day is a day of mourning, tears for the fallen, a day of silence. On this day people ought to shut up, rather than «fart public money into the air and rattle weapons». A day when one should reflect that war is a lesson. Perhaps we haven't learned this lesson, haven't understood it? Otherwise, I see on some cars: «We can repeat it». What can you repeat? Are you a degenerate? Millions of deaths, millions of ruined lives, people tortured to death in camps and gas chambers? Is that what you can and want to repeat?

Trips to occupied Crimea and «Myrotvorets»

In June 2017, the actor was added to the database of the "Myrotvorets" website for illegally visiting Russian-occupied Crimea. Pavel reacted to this news as follows:

There will be no reaction whatsoever. Politics is not my game. I was born in the Soviet Union anyway, my country is the USSR

Reaction to the beginning of the full-scale invasion

At the beginning of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, Pavel Maykov reposted a message about the war on Instagram. It stated that war is a "battle between different states" and that things must be called by their real names (hinting at the official euphemism "special operation").

Soon afterward, the actor deleted all his personal social media accounts, retaining only the one belonging to his music band "Magrit".

Concerts under the slogan «No to War!»

On February 26, 2022, a video appeared on the Instagram account of "Magrit" from a performance of the band, in which Maykov declared from the stage:

Today we are holding our concert under the motto «No to war!

In February 2026, at one of his performances, Pavel Maykov openly addressed the audience with an anti-war statement:

Make love and never make war. Let war go f*** itself. And those who want war, may they ****[perish]

Criticism of the film «Brother 2»

In early March 2026, Maykov sparked a fresh wave of public debate by appearing on the "Telega" podcast with harsh criticism of the cult Russian film "Brother 2" and the works of director Aleksei Balabanov as a whole. The actor called the film «absolutely fascist cinema», directly condemning the romanticization of senseless violence and aggression toward other nations:

A weirdo arrives from another country, slaughters everyone indiscriminately, shoots people simply because they get in his way.

In the actor's opinion, such films planted a "ticking time bomb" into the minds of Russians, which largely shaped an aggressive society and led to today's catastrophic problems.

Life in Russia after the outbreak of the war

The actor continues to live and work in Russia; consequently, he continues to pay taxes into the budget of the aggressor state, thereby indirectly funding the war.

Unlike Pavel Maykov, his co-stars from the "Brigada" series, Sergei Bezrukov and Dmitry Dyuzhev, have openly supported the war in Ukraine.