The main topic of the interview between Batsman and Maksakova was the presidential elections in the USA and Donald Trump's return to power.
Maksakova specifically discussed:
- what Ukraine can expect from Trump's team;
- what his policy towards Russia will be;
- whether he can truly end the war between Russia and Ukraine;
- whether he will allow a collapse in oil prices.
"In January, Ukraine will no longer bleed. Trump will achieve this," Maksakova stated in the interview.
Maksakova was born in 1977 in Munich (Germany). Her mother is the Russian actress Lyudmila Maksakova, and her father is the German businessman Peter Igenbergs. Her maternal grandmother was also a singer, the People's Artist of the USSR Maria Maksakova. Maksakova spent her childhood in Russia and started engaging in music at a young age. She graduated from the music school at the Moscow State Conservatory (piano class), the Gnesin Academy of Music (academic vocal department), and the Moscow State Law Academy.
She made her debut on the big stage as an opera singer in 2000. She performed in Russian theaters such as "New Opera," "Helikon-Opera," the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia, the Mariinsky Theatre, and the Primorsky Opera and Ballet Theatre. She has released several solo albums and taught at the Gnesin Academy of Music.
Since 2016, Maksakova has lived in Ukraine and did not leave even after the full-scale Russian invasion that began in February 2022. Maksakova's husband, former State Duma deputy Denis Voronenkov, was killed by a hitman in central Kyiv in March 2017.