Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the West is trying to destroy Russian culture, according to world agencies.
“Today they are trying to destroy a whole millennial culture, our people,” Putin said in a video conference with Russian cultural figures. He was referring to the abolition of events involving Russian artists in some Western countries in recent weeks.
“In this way, they are trying to ban Russian writers and books,” Putin added.
He compared it to Nazi propaganda, according to Agence France-Presse. “The last time the Nazis in Germany conducted a similar campaign to destroy a culture they disliked was almost 90 years ago. We remember footage of books being burned in the squares,” Putin said.
“Composers Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich and Rachmaninoff are now being removed from concert posters. They are banning Russian writers and their books,” he added.
In addition to economic and political sanctions imposed on Russia in connection with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, major sports federations have barred Russian athletes from participating in sporting events. And cultural institutions and events have excluded Russian artists from their programs, reminds Agence France-Presse.
The Paris Philharmonic Orchestra, for example, will change its season to the coming autumn, winter and spring, for which many Russian musicians had to be invited, such as Russian conductor Valery Gergiev or the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra. Gergiev, who is the general director of the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, was fired as chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and lost the opportunity to conduct at Milan’s La Scala Theater.
Russian soprano Anna Netrebko, who has been criticized for her alleged tolerance of Russian President Vladimir Putin, left the New York Metropolitan Opera on March 3 to perform this spring and next season.
Conductor Pavel Sorokin was fired from his job at the Royal Opera House in London. Brazilian David Mota Suarez and Italian Jacopo Tizi, both Bolshoi Ballet dancers, declined to participate. The Spanish Royal Ballet has canceled the Bolshoi Ballet tour. The Cardiff Philharmonic Orchestra canceled Tchaikovsky’s opera. Theaters in the Czech Republic, Japan and Croatia have taken similar steps. The Cannes Film Festival and the Venice Biennale have announced that they will not accept official Russian delegations.
Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Bonamas have canceled sales of Russian art in London.
Putin today compared all this to the attitude of the author of the books about Harry Potter JK Rowling, which caused controversy with his comments about transgender people, according to Reuters.
At today’s meeting, Putin invited Gergiev to consider the possibility of creating a joint directorate of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky Theaters, similar to the existing Directorate of Imperial Theaters.