Alexei Navalny‘s Anti-Corruption Foundation has released a statement against Ildar Abdrazakov’s performances at the Teatro Filarmonico. 

The foundation said, “Another Putin ally and propagandist is planning to perform in Italy. Ildar Abdrazakov is a Russian bass-baritone and a public supporter of Vladimir Putin. In 2024, he served as a trusted representative for Putin’s presidential campaign, and he now heads the Sevastopol State Opera and Ballet Theatre in occupied Crimea, Ukraine.”

It added, “He plans to perform at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, Italy, on January 18, 21, 23, and 25, 2026. He’s also eager to make his way to Europe, especially since he owns a luxurious villa here. If we don’t intervene, he will succeed. We call on the theatre to replace the performer and to set a clear standard: European stages must not provide a platform to active public advocates of the Kremlin’s war.”

The organization is the latest to call out Abdrazakov’s performances. The association Liberi Oltre le Illusioni released a statement asking the Arena Foundation of Verona and the Philharmonic Theatre of Verona to cancel their collaboration with Abdrazakov.

Since the war in Ukraine began, Abdrazakov has been an open supporter of Putin since the beginning of the war, having endorsed him in 2023. He was later named a Member of Russia’s Presidential Council, received the Russian State Prize, and performed at the BRIC summit. He is also the General Director of the Sevastopol State Opera and Ballet Theater, which is a Kremlin-ordered cultural complex that was constructed on the southern tip of the peninsula. It is located alongside one of the Soviet Union’s largest war monuments and is a symbol of Russia’s defiance of punitive measures imposed following its 2014 seizure of the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula and ongoing involvement in the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine.

This is Italy’s second attempt at hiring a Putin supporter following its attempt to hire Valery Gergiev for a concert that was ultimately canceled this past.

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