Russia accuses Italy of 'persecution' after veto on pro-Putin conductor

The Russian government has accused Italy of launching an "unprecedented persecution" against conductor Valery Gergiev after canceling a concert by the conductor, considered a supporter of President Vladimir Putin, scheduled for July 27 at the Royal Palace of Caserta.

The statement was made on Wednesday (23) by the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, who classified the decision as "discrimination" and said that Italy had given in to the anti-Russian lobby.

Gergiev, who heads Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre and St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre, was expected to lead an Italian orchestra and Mariinsky soloists in a concert near Naples next Sunday (27).

However, Italian politicians, Ukrainian and Russian anti-Kremlin activists, including the wife of the late opposition figure Alexei Navalny, and Nobel Prize winners criticized the performance due to Gergiev's support for Putin and his failure to condemn the war in Ukraine.

Amid the controversy, the administration of the Royal Palace of Caserta, in southern Italy, announced last Monday (21) the cancellation of the concert.

"Unfortunately, a real scandal was artificially created with the arrival of the world-famous maestro," Zakharova said, adding that in the Italian media and public debate, "at the instigation of Russophobic politicians, an unprecedented persecution of Gergiev has developed."

According to the Moscow spokesperson, "the peak of the attacks on Gergiev were the words of the Italian Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli, who, on the one hand, spoke of artistic freedom and, on the other, saw 'Russian propaganda' in the performance of Tchaikovsky's great Symphony No. 5 by the renowned maestro."

"Indeed, the performance of Tchaikovsky's works is propaganda, but of the eternal traditional values that Russia consistently defends throughout the world: love, kindness, truth, justice. It is surprising that an Italian authority openly opposes them," he said.

Zakharova then quoted, in Italian, a line from the Gospel of Matthew: "Do not give what is sacred to dogs, nor throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces."

Finally, the Russian diplomatic spokesperson revealed that, in her opposition to Gergiev's concert, the vice-president of the European Parliament, the Italian Pina Picierno, was motivated by "discrimination based on nationality."

"We strongly condemn such discriminatory attempts at 'cancel culture' carried out by the Italian authorities," she concluded, accusing Rome of caving to pressure from Ukrainian nationalists.