Anna Netrebko’s gender discrimination lawsuit is moving ahead.

A federal judge Annalisa Torres ruled to move ahead citing Netrebko’s examples of male Putin-connected opera singers whom the Met treated more favorably.

Torres wrote in a 23-page ruling, “For example, she alleges that the male opera singer Ildar Abdrazakov performed at political events, ‘including at least one event at which Putin … spoke about the war in Ukraine,’ and that Abdrazakov organized a Kremlin-backed music festival.

She added, “She further states that male opera singer Evgeny Nikitin was featured at a Victory Day event involving Putin, and that Igor Golovatenko and Alexey Markov have performed at state-sponsored venues since the invasion of Ukraine.”

Netrebko claims she was specifically targeted as a woman because the Met wanted to make “an example out of its ‘reigning prima donna’” to most visibly show its commitment to Ukraine.

She also noted that the Met maintained its relationship with the aforementioned male counterparts. Torres wrote, “Here, Netrebko’s claim of gender discrimination crosses the line from merely possible to plausible.”

However, Torres dismissed Netrebko’s defamation, nationality, and breach of contract claims.

In a statement to Courthouse News, a representative for the Met said, “We’re pleased to see that three of the four claims were completely dismissed and strongly believe that the fourth claim will also prove to be without merit should it go to trial.”

“It is normal for a court to narrow the issues during litigation, but this court recognizes that the facts as alleged show that the Met wronged Anna Netrebko and that there is still an important case before it,” Netrebko’s manager, Miguel Esteban, said in a statement to the Associated Press. “Anna Netrebko remains fully committed to pursuing this complaint, to vindicating her rights, to restoring her reputation and to demonstrating that the Metropolitan Opera and Peter Gelb treated her unlawfully.”

Since the war in Ukraine broke out, General Manager Peter Gelb has been outspoken about the Met’s commitment to Ukraine and cut ties with the Bolshoi Theatre stating “Putin…literally signs the contract of my counterpart there and so the decision was clear.” He added that he was cutting ties with “artists or institutions that support Putin or are supported by him.” Because arts institutions in Russia are backed by Vladimir Putin’s Minister of Culture, every singer who continues to perform in the theatre is technically backed by the Russian tyrant.

Since the beginning of the war, Netrebko has not returned to Russia and has condemned the war in Ukraine on three occasions. Meanwhile, Abdrazakov endorsed Putin and was allowed to “pause” his relationship with the Met with Gelb stating, “My response is they chose a side and they chose the wrong side. I feel sorry that he like many other Russians are so misinformed and doesn’t really understand what’s going on in the world.”

Markov has steadily performed at the Putin-backed Mariinsky Theatre and will sing the title role of “Eugene Onegin” in September. He will then return to the Met in “The Queen of Spades.”

Finally, Nikitin was featured in the Met’s “Lohengrin” in 2023 and is now set to perform in the Mariinsky Theatre’s “Meistersinger von Nürnberg.”