The Ukrainian Embassy in Italy has officially sent a letter to the Florence City Council and the management of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino theatre stating that performances by Russian artists Svetlana Zakharova and Vadim Repin are unacceptable. To date, no response to the Embassy’s letter has been received.
In response to a request from LB.ua, representatives of the Ukrainian Embassy in Italy stated that they are “consistently informing the Italian side that performances by Russian artists known for their loyalty to the Kremlin on European stages are aimed at whitewashing Russia’s reputation in the context of full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine”.
In this context, the Embassy referred to the recent cancellation in Italy of a performance by the controversial conductor Valeriy Gergiev, an open supporter of Kremlin policy. Despite attempts to justify his appearance solely as that of a “representative of culture, not politics”, the entire Russian political establishment exerted pressure and issued threats to the Italian side during the cancellation process, which only confirmed the close connection between the Russian cultural elite and the Russian authorities.
The Ukrainian Embassy in Italy also noted that it is closely monitoring further developments surrounding the planned performances of these artists and is doing everything possible within its competence, in close cooperation with the Ukrainian community, to have them cancelled.
“We are consistently explaining the true goals of the participation of so-called ‘cultural figures’, in particular those who are directly or indirectly part of the state structures of the aggressor country,” the Embassy stated.