Italy Cancels Putin Ally's Big Concert

A concert by Russian conductor Valery Gergiev has been canceled, organizers in Italy announced Monday, following protests against giving the stage to the conductor who has been largely barred from European venues for failing to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Gergiev had been invited to conduct during a summer festival at the Royal Palace of Caserta near Naples next Sunday, reports the AP. The regional governor, Vincenzo de Luca, had defended the invitation, saying that "the logic of preclusion … does not help peace."

As the Guardian reports, the invitation attracted wide condemnation—notably Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny—and some 16,000 signatories of a letter to De Luca and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen calling for Gergiev's removal. Those signatories included Nobel laureates, human rights activists, and Italian and international politicians. Signatory Pina Picierno, vice-president of the European parliament, wrote on social media: "We explained, we fought and we won!" Gergiev, who is head of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky Russian state theaters, is considered close to President Vladimir Putin.