Putin Loyalists Hibla Gerzmava and Ildar Abdrazakov are set to perform in Belgrade in February 2025.

In a press release regarding the grand exhibition “Peter the Great and the Balkans” as part of the “Days of the Hermitage” event, it was announced that the two singers would be performing at the National Theatre in Belgrade in an evening entitled “Stars of Russian Opera. There will also be a performance Stars of Russian ballet” featuring Bolshoi Theatre prima ballerina Svetlana Zakharova.

The exhibition, which will focus on the historical connections between Russia and the Balkans, will also showcase work at the National Museum of Serbia and screenings of historical films about the Romanov dynasty.

There will also be lectures planned at the University of Belgrade, along with the presentation of original artifacts from the Hermitage Museum.

The performance will be one of the few occasions in which Abdrazakov and Gerzmava have performed outside of Russia since the beginning of the war in 2022. Both artists have been banned from most Western theaters after endorsing Putin although Gerzmava did perform at the Gran Teatre del Liceu and Abdrazakov recently performed in Ravenna.