Putin’s friend Hergiev conducts when Italy violates prohibition on procramlin artists

Russian conductor Valery Hergiev has been banned from European stages since a full -scale invasion of Ukraine.

A close ally of Vladimir Putin for many years, the director of Bilesia and Russian state theaters of Marian has never spoken against the war.

But the region of southern Italy has now invited Gergiev to Europe, signing the artist’s rehabilitation, even when Russia’s attacks on Ukraine are intensifying.

Vinczan de Lu Luke, which rules the company’s region, insists that the concert in un’S’estate da Re The festival will later go forward this month despite growing criticism.

“Culture … It should not affect politics and political logic,” De Lu Luke said on Friday. “We do not ask these men to answer the choice made by politicians.”

Earlier, a 76-year-old local leader called a wide veto in Europe on the puree artists “The Momant-Momant Madness” at the beginning of the war and announced that he was “proud” to welcome Gergiev to the city.

But Pina Pickerno, Vice-President of the European Parliament, said the BBC that the permission of Gergiev’s return “is absolutely unacceptable”.

She calls the stellar conductor “Cultural Mondo for Putin and his crimes.”

The Ukrainian human rights activist and Nobel laureate Oleksandra Matichuk said that the invitation of the regional government is “hypocrisy” rather than neutrality.

Russian opposition activists also condemned the director’s sudden return. The anti -corruption fund, which is the late opposition leader Alexei, wants his concert to be canceled and urged to ban the entry of Gergiev into the country.

Prior to a full -scale war in Russia, the virtuoso Gergiev was a regular visitor to the stages in Italy and across Europe, despite his proximity to Putin.

His long and glorious career includes the London Symphony Orchestra and the Munich Philharmonic.

But invitations to Europe stopped sharply on February 24, 2022.

A few hours before the first Russian missiles in Ukraine were launched, Gergiev was on stage at Milan Opera House. The then mayor of the city will oppose the war, Gergiev chose silence.

It was immediately thrown out of the bill.

Abandoned by his leader, despite what he calls Gergiev “the greatest conductor”, Then he was fired as the main conductor in Munich And removed from the concerts throughout the continent.

That is why the invitation from Italy is so controversial.

Pina Pikarno, who comes from the company, says her call to stop this event is not Russian.

“There are not enough brilliant Russian artists who have decided to withdraw Putin’s criminal policy,” she said the BBC.

The European MP, who says she has received threats for her work, exposing Russia’s hybrid war, warns that Gergiev’s permission will be wrong and dangerous.

“It is not about censorship. Gergiev is part of the Kremlin’s intentional strategy. It is one of their cultural messengers to mitigate Western public opinion. This is part of their war.”

Cultural dispute broke out in a week when Italy conducted heads of state from all over Europe to confirm its support to Ukraine and discuss how to restore the country when the war is over.

Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni has been a strong and consistent critic Vladimir Putin since the beginning. But her ministry of culture is one of the fans Un’estate da Re that invited Gergiev.

The Senior Member of the Meloni Brothers Party Alfred Antonioja called Gergiev “just a great artist”.

“If the Russians have to pay for the mistakes of their president, then we make some cultural genocide,” he claimed.

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

But the European Union evaded official sanctions against the conductor, which avoided open support for the war.

Gergiev was a supporter of Putin since the 1990s, later campaigning for re-election and support for illegal annexation in Crimea in 2014.

In addition to the Mariinsky Theater, he was handed over to the Moscow Moscow Theater, in addition to the director who signed an open letter against the war in Russia.

Gergiev is a state employee, but in 2022, Alexei’s investigation revealed property in several Italian cities, which, they said, never stated.

They also claimed that he used donations to the charity fund to pay for his lush lifestyle.

Activists claimed that Putin’s gergiev award for his public allegiance.

The BBC has not yet been able to refer to the conductor for comment.

The press -secretary of the European Commission Eve Khrnchirov said that the un’estate DA Festival does not receive EU funds: it is funded by its “cohesion funds” of Italy.

But she added that the commission urged European stages not to give a place “to artists who support the aggression of the war in Ukraine.”

The company, the artistic director who created this year’s festival program, refused to comment. The press secretary was convinced that Gergiev’s speech would continue – despite disputes.

“Yes,” he assured the BBC. “Probably.”

Additional report from Rome David Guillon.