The artwork on the end wall of No. 64 on Admirala Ushakova Street was painted over with solid pink, local television channel UTV reported. The original mural featured a guitar, a portrait of the singer and lines from her song "Voskresenye" (Sunday). In the new version, only the guitar remains, filled in with pink.
The mural was painted in 2021 by local artist Oleg Kaibyshev. He said the drawing had been a city landmark.
"I don't feel sorry for my work. I feel sorry that the city has lost this drawing," Kaibyshev told UTV.
Before the mural was altered, Sergei Zaitsev, head of the Zov Naroda (Call of the People) movement, appealed to the administration of the head of Bashkortostan. He demanded that Zemfira's portrait be replaced with an image of a "patriot or hero of Russia," UTV reported.
In a reply published by the television channel, the administration told Zaitsev that changing the drawing required a decision by a meeting of the building's residents, approved by at least two-thirds of the owners, and that no such request had been received from residents. The administration nonetheless promised to ask Ufa city authorities to "work through the issue taking public opinion into account."
It is not known on whose initiative the mural was painted over.
Zemfira spent her childhood and youth in Ufa's Chernikovka district and moved to Moscow in 1998. The house on Ushakova Street draws attention from the singer's fans, who often write lines from her songs on it.
In February 2022, Zemfira condemned Russia's armed invasion of Ukraine and left Russia. Her songs were taken off the air by Russian radio stations. In February 2023, Russia's Ministry of Justice added Zemfira Ramazanova to the register of so-called foreign agents.
The Zov Naroda movement was founded by Sergei Zaitsev in 2017. It describes itself as patriotic and supports Russia's war in Ukraine.