Putin’s friend Gergiev will act as Italy breaks ban on pro-Kremlin artists

Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian command Valery Gergiev has been banned from the European stage.

Vladimir Putin’s close allies have never opposed the war for many years.

But the southern region of Italy now invites Geggiev to return to Europe, and even as Russia’s intensified attacks on Ukraine are indicative of the artist’s recovery.

Vincenzo de Luca, which runs the Campania area, insists that despite growing criticism, concerts at the Un’state Da Re Festival will continue later this month.

“Cultural … must not be influenced by politics and political logic,” De Luca said in a live broadcast on Friday. “We do not ask these people to answer the choices of politicians.”

The 76-year-old local leader had previously called Europe’s broad veto on Pro-Putin artists “a moment of stupidity – a moment of crazyness” at the beginning of the war and announced that he was “proud” to welcome Gergiev to the town.

But European Parliament Vice-President Pina Picierno told the BBC that allowing Gergiev’s return was “absolutely unacceptable”.

She called the star conductor “the cultural mouthpiece of Putin and his crimes.”

Ukrainian human rights activist and Nobel Prize winner Oleksandra Matviichuk said the invitation from the regional government was “hypocritical” rather than neutral.

Russian opposition activists also condemned the director’s sudden return. The anti-corruption foundation of late opposition leader Alexei Navalny wants to cancel his concert and calls on the Italian Ministry of Interior to ban Gergiev from entering the country.

Before Russia fought a total war in Ukraine, despite his closeness to Putin, Gergeriev was a regular visitor in Italy and throughout Europe.

His long and outstanding careers include serving in the London Symphony Orchestra and the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra.

But the invitation from Europe suddenly stopped on February 24, 2022.

Gergiev took the stage at the La Scala Opera House in Milan just hours before Ukraine launched its first Russian missile. Gergiev then urged amid the city mayor’s voice in opposition to the war.

He quickly withdrew from the bill.

Although he called Gegeev the “greatest conductor alive” he was abandoned by his manager and then fired as chief conductor in Munich and evacuated from concert schedules throughout the continent.

That’s why the Italian invitation is so controversial.

Pina Picierno from Campania said her call for a halt to be Russian phobia.

“There are no shortage of outstanding Russian artists who choose to separate from Putin’s criminal policy,” she told the BBC.

European MPs said she was threatened by exposing a hybrid war in Russia, warning that allowing Gergiev to perform was both wrong and dangerous.

“It has nothing to do with censorship. Gergiev is part of a deliberate Kremlin strategy. He is one of the cultural envoys who softened Western public opinion. It is part of their war.”

The cultural controversy broke out in a week after Italy hosted heads of state from all over Europe to reaffirm their support for Ukraine and discuss how to rebuild the country once the war was over.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been a strong critic of Vladimir Putin from the very beginning. But her cultural ministry was one of the supporters of Gergiev’s “The Man Who Is Not Legacy.”

Alfredo Antoniozzi, a senior MP for the Italian Brotherhood of Meloni, described Gergiev as a “simple artist.”

“If Russians have to pay for the president’s mistake, then we will commit a cultural genocide,” he said.

Last month, Canada officially banned Gergiev from entering and announced that it would freeze any assets.

But the EU has evaded formal sanctions on command, which has avoided open support for war.

Gergiev has been a voice supporter of Putin since the 1990s, later running for his re-election and supporting Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014.

In addition to the Mariinsky Theatre, he also took over the management of the Mariinsky Theatre in Moscow, and he took over a director who signed an open letter against the Russian war.

Gergiev is a state employee, but in 2022, an investigation by the Alexei Navalny team found real estate in several Italian cities they said he never announced.

They also claim he used donations to charitable funds to pay for his luxurious lifestyle.

The activists believe that this is a reward for Gergiev’s public loyalty to Putin.

The BBC has not arrived at the commander to comment so far.

Eva Hrncirova, spokesman for the European Commission, clarified that the Intangible Heritage Festival did not receive EU cash: it was provided by Italy’s own “cohesion fund”.

But she added that the committee urged the European stage not to provide space for “artists who support the war of aggression in Ukraine”.

In Campania, the artistic director who has formulated this year’s holiday plan declined to comment. Despite the controversy, the spokesperson was confident that Gergiev’s performance would continue.

“Yes,” he assured the BBC. “must.”

Other reports provided by Davide Ghiglione to Rome.