Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited the Artistic Director of the Mariinsky Theatre, People’s Artist of the Russian Federation Valery Gergiev to unify the Bolshoi Theatre and Marrinsky Theatre.

In a press conference, the Russian ruler mentioned that the Directorate of Imperial Theaters was under single governance under the Russian Empire from 1786 to 1917.

He said, “Valery Abisalovich, we have already talked about this before. How do you feel about the idea of ​​recreating a common directorate? I’m not saying that this is some kind of decision so that there is no unnecessary talk.”

Gergiev responded stating  “both the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky theaters represent one of the most powerful musical or musical-theatrical traditions on Earth. He recalled that new theaters are now being built, in particular in Kaliningrad, Sevastopol, and Vladivostok.” He added, “And I think that this tradition will be strengthened, and incredible young singers and dancers are now filling the stages of both theaters. Probably, the time has come to think about how to coordinate efforts.”

The conductor also noted, “We were just thinking about how young talents would get the opportunity to sing on famous stages even faster, faster now. We are talking about dozens of amazing singers, some of them lost some contracts today.”

During the press conference, Putin also attacked discrimination against Russian culture in the West and compared it to censorship in Nazi, Germany.

Over the past month, Russian artists and athletes have been banned from the Western world. Concerts featuring Russian music have been canceled while Russian restaurants have been vandalized and boycotted. Valery Gergiev was fired from all his Western engagements and is currently conducting in Moscow.