Putin’s friend Gargiv set to operate as Italy

Russian conductor Valerie Gorgiv has been stopped from European stages since the entire scale of Ukraine.

For many years, a close aide of Vladimir Putin, Bolshoi director and the theater of the Marinesi Russian state have never spoken against the war.

But a region in southern Italy has now invited gergev back to Europe, which indicates the rehabilitation of the artist, even in Russia’s attacks on Ukraine.

Vincenzo de Luca, which runs the campania region, insists in the concert un’estate da re At the end of this month, the festival will move forward despite the growing cheerful of criticism.

“Culture … should not be influenced by politics and political logic,” D Luka said in a livestream on Friday. “We do not ask these people to answer for the options made by politicians.”

The 76-year-old local leader called Europe’s broad veto at a moment of stupidity “at a moment” at the beginning of the first war “and announced that he was” proud “to welcome the gergev in the city.

But Pina Picarno, vice president of the European Parliament, has told the BBC that Gargiv’s return is “absolutely unacceptable”.

She calls Star conductor “Putin and Cultural Mukhi Palp for her crimes”.

Ukrainian human rights activist and Nobel Prize winner Oleksendra Mativichuk said that the invitation by the regional government was “hypocrisy” rather than neutrality.

Russian opposition activists have also condemned the sudden return of the director. The late opposition leader Alexi Navalani’s anti -corruption foundation, wants his concert to be canceled and is calling Italy’s internal ministry to ban the entry of garagev in the country.

Prior to Russia’s full -scale war in Ukraine, the Punyaso was a regular visitors for the forums across Europe, despite his proximity to Gargiv Putin.

His long and luxurious career includes London Symphony Orchestra and Munich Philharmonic stent.

But the invitation in Europe suddenly stopped on 24 February 2022.

A few hours before launching the first Russian missiles in Ukraine, Gargiv was on stage at La Skala Opera House in Milan. Then the city mayor urged to speak against the war, Gargiv chose the silence.

He was immediately removed from the bill.

Despite calling Gergiev “the greatest conductor Alive”, left by his manager, Then he was fired as the main conductor in Munich And was removed from the concert schedule across the continent.

Therefore, the invitation to Italy is so controversial.

Pina Picierrano, who himself is from the Campania region, says his call to prevent this incident is not romantic.

He said, “There is no shortage of magnificent Russian artists who choose to separate themselves from Putin’s criminal policies,” she told the BBC.

European MPs, who say, have received threats to their work highlighting Russia’s hybrid war, warning that it would be both wrong and dangerous to allow Gargiv to perform.

“It’s not about the sensorship. Gargiv is a part of a deliberate Kremlin strategy. He is one of his cultural messengers to soften the Western public opinion. It is part of his war.”

Cultural disputes erupted in a week when Italy was hosting the heads of the state from all over Europe to confirm its support for Ukraine and discuss how to reconstruct the country after the end of the war.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been a strong and consistent critic of Vladimir Putin since the beginning. But its culture is one of the backchers of the Ministry Un’estate Da Re, which has invited Gergiev.

A senior MP of Meloni’s brothers, Alfredo Antoniozie, has described Gargiv as a “great artist”.

“If the Russians have to pay for their President’s mistakes, we are doing a kind of cultural massacre,” they argued.

Last month, Canada formally prevented Gargiv from entry and announced that it would freeze any property.

But the formal sanctions against the European Union conductor have been away from the open support for the war.

Gergiev has been a vocal supporter of Putin since the 1990s, later in 2014 for his re -election and Russia’s illegal creamia’s illegal anecdote.

He was assigned the management of the Bolshoi theater of Moscow, in addition to the Marinesi theater, a director who signed an open letter against the war of Russia.

Gergiev is a state employee, but an investigation by Alexi Navalani’s team in 2022 exposed properties in several Italian cities that they say they never declared.

He also alleged that he used donations in a charitable fund to pay for his own grand lifestyle.

The activists argued that there was a reward of Garagev for Putin for his public loyalty.

The BBC has so far been unable to reach the conductor for comments.

Eva Harnsirova, a spokesman for the European Commission, has clarified that the UNSTET da Ri Festival is not getting the European Union cash: It is funded by its “Coordination Nidhi” of Italy.

But he said that the Commission urged the European stages to “urge” not to “place” the artists supporting the war of aggression in Ukraine.

In Campania, the artistic director who prepared this year’s festival program refused to comment. A spokesman was confident that the performance of the gergev would proceed, however – despite the controversy.

“Yes,” he assured the BBC. “Sure.”

Additional reporting from Rome by David Ghiglione.