Intellectuals Call for Pro-Putin Regent to Be 'Banished' from Italy

More than 700 people, including several Nobel Prize winners and intellectuals, have signed a petition calling for the cancellation of the concert conducted by Russian maestro Valeri Gergiev, scheduled for July 27 at the Royal Palace of Caserta in southern Italy, due to his affinity with President Vladimir Putin.

Gergiev, 72, is close to Putin and has been criticized in the West for never speaking out against the war. The petition comes from the Memorial Italia association, which sent two letters with the same objective.

The first letter, addressed to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the governor of the Italian region of Campania, Vincenzo De Luca, calls not only for the concert to be banned, but also for an investigation into the use of public funds for events related to Russian propaganda in the territory of the European Union (EU).

"He consciously uses his name and prestige to legitimize aggression and dictatorship. For years, he openly supported Russian power, participated in events supporting the annexation of Crimea, and publicly reaffirmed his loyalty to Vladimir Putin, even after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began," the text reads.

The signatories include Oleksandra Matviichuk (director of the Kyiv Center for Civil Liberties, winner of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize); Oleg Orlov, Svetlana Gannushkina, and Irina Shcherbakova of Memorial (winner of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize); writers Herta Müller (winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature); Jonathan Littell (winner of the 2006 Prix Goncourt); and Mikhail Shishkin (winner of the 2000 Russian Booker Prize); choreographer Alexei Ratmansky (New York Ballet), historian Anna Foa, and Vice-President of the European Parliament Pina Picierno.

The second letter is addressed to the presidents of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and Senate and calls for the creation of a specific parliamentary oversight body to combat Russian propaganda in Italy, where cases of support for Putin among politicians and prominent figures have been reported.

Gergiev has been the target of boycotts by several Western orchestras for failing to denounce Moscow's large-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022.

However, the "Un'Estate da Re" festival, organized at the Palace of Caserta, the former royal residence of the Bourbons of Naples, has invited the Russian maestro to lead a concert on the evening of July 27, which will also feature soloists from the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, which he has directed since 1996.

The initiative, however, caused controversy in Italy.