Pugachev...a?

So, I'm preparing a killer text - absolutely crawling with cultural references. It's funny, in a very biting way, and a native speaker I work with died laughing at it. But it's also HARD. It was in Ukrainian, and I'm using it in a Ukrainian class first, but I found a Russian version that I'm planning to use in a Russian class as well. Most of the time, I knew I needed Google and/or a native. But here's one that tripped me up entirely (Ukrainian version first):

За цим автозаком, як у Росії колись Пугачова, везуть заґратовану клітку із членом попереднього уряду, екс-міністром внутрішніх справ. З інших кліток виглядають ще кілька фігурантів сюрреальних судових процесів.

За этим автозаком, как в России некогда Пугачева, везут зарешеченную клетку с членом предыдущего правительства, экс-министром внутренних дел. Из других клеток выглядывают еще несколько фигурантов сюрреальних судебных процессов.

Behind this police van, as once [Pugachev-a] in Russia, will be a barred cage containing a member of the former government, the ex minister of internal affairs. From other cages several others will be peering, people also figuring in surreal court cases.

Well, I know Alla Pugacheva - she's like Madonna or somebody in terms of name recognition. So I started scouring her lyrics and even found a song, Девочка сэконд-хэнд (Second-hand Girl), that had a reference to being caged.

But. Of course it's not Alla Pugacheva in the nominative. Noooooo. It's Yemelyan Pugachev in the accusative, he being a rebellious Cossack, leader of an eponymous revolution in 1774, who was dragged through Moscow in an iron cage in 1775 before being hanged, drawn, and quartered.

Sheesh. Grammar. Who needs it, right?

(Plus: Culture. It's everywhere)