Putin’s friend Gergiev set to conduct as Italy breaks ban on pro-Kremlin artists

Russian chef Valery Gergiev has been banned from European stages since the full -scale invasion of Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin’s ally, Bolshoi and Mariinsky, the director of the Russian state theaters never spoke against the war.

However, a region of Southern Italy invited Gergiev to Europe and pointed out the rehabilitation of the artist, even if Russia’s attacks on Ukraine intensified.

Vincenzo de Luca, who manages the Campania region The festival will continue despite an increasing criticism later this month.

“Culture… should not be affected by politics and political logic, Lu Luca said on a live broadcast on Friday. “We do not want these men to respond to the elections made by politicians.”

The 76-year-old local leader previously called European pro-Putin artists as wide veto and called “stupid moment-moment moment” at the beginning of the war, and announced that he was “proud” to invite Gergiev to the city.

However, Pina Picierno, Vice President of the European Parliament, said that it was “absolutely unacceptable” to allow the return of Gergiev to the BBC.

“Putin and cultural mouthpiece for crimes,” he says to the star chief.

Ukraine Human Rights Activist and Nobel Prize Oleksandra Matviichuk said that the invitation of the regional government was “hypocrisy” rather than impartiality.

Russian opposition activists condemned the sudden return of the director. The deceased opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s Anti -Corruption Foundation wants the cancellation of its concert and calls for Italy’s Ministry of Interior to prohibit Gergiev’s entry into the country.

Before Russia’s full -scale war in Ukraine, Virtuoso Gergiev was a regular visitor to the stages in Italy and Europe despite his proximity to Putin.

His long and famous career contains clues in the London Symphony Orchestra and Munich Philharmonic.

However, the invitations to Europe suddenly stopped on 24 February 2022.

Hours before the release of the first Russian missiles in Ukraine, Gergiev Milan’s La Scala Opera House. Later, Gergiev, who was called by the mayor of the city against the war, quietly chose.

Immediately fell from the invoice.

Although he called Gergiev “the biggest chef alive”, he was abandoned by his manager, Later, he was fired as chief chief in Munich. And he was removed from concert programs on the continent.

Therefore, the invitation from Italy is very controversial.

Pina Picerno, who is from the Campania region, says that the call for a stopping to stop is not Russofobic.

“There is no shortage of brilliant Russian artists who choose to separate them from Putin’s criminal policies,” he told the BBC.

Saying that Russia has been threatened for its work that reveals the hybrid war, the European deputy warns that it would be wrong and dangerous to allow Gergiev to perform.

“This is not about censorship. Gergiev is part of a deliberate Kremlin strategy. One of the cultural ambassadors to soften the Western public opinion. Part of these wars.”

Cultural debates exploded in a week when it hosts the heads of state from all over Europe to confirm Italy’s support to Ukraine and to discuss how to rebuild the country after the war ended.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been a strong and consistent critic of Vladimir Putin from the beginning. However, the Ministry of Culture, Re.

Alfredo Antoniozzi, a senior deputy of Meloni’s Italian brothers party, described Gergiev as “just a wonderful artist”.

“If the Russians have to pay the mistakes of the presidents, we are doing some kind of cultural genocide.”

Last month, Canada officially banned Gergiev from the entrance and announced that he would freeze any assets.

However, the European Union has moved away from official sanctions against the chief who avoided open support to war.

Gergiev has been a vocal supporter of Putin since the 1990s, then running a campaign to re -elect and campaign to annex the Crimea in 2014 in 2014.

In addition to the Mariinsky Theater, the administration of the Bolshoi Theater of Moscow took over from a director who signed an open letter against the Russian War.

Gergiev is a state employee, but an investigation by Alexei Navalny’s team in 2022 revealed the properties they said he had never declared in a few Italian cities.

They also claimed to have donated to a philanthropist fund to pay his own generous lifestyle.

The activists argued that Gergiev was a reward for Putin for public loyalty.

BBC has not been able to reach the conductor to comment so far.

Eva Hrncirova, a spokesman for the European Commission, announced that the re re festival of Un’estat does not receive the EU cash: Italy’s own “adaptation funds” is being financed.

However, he added that the commission called on the European stages not to give space to the artists who support the war of aggression in Ukraine “.

In Campania, the art director who prepared the festival program this year refused to comment. A spokesman was sure that Gergiev’s performance would continue despite the controversy.

“Yes,” guaranteed the BBC. “Definitely.”

Davide Ghiglione from Rome from Rome.