Russia’s Foreign Ministry has accused Italy of discrimination after the cancelation of Valery Gergiev’s concert on July 27.

Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for Russia’s Foreign Ministry, said she was sorry Italian audiences would be deprived of the opportunity “to experience great Russian music performed by a renowned Russian conductor.”

She added, “We strongly condemn such discriminatory attempts at ‘cancel culture,’ carried out by the Italian authorities.”

Gergiev was scheduled to perform with the Mariinsky Theatre, but Italian politicians and Ukrainian and Russian anti-Kremlin activists objected to the concert, causing uproar and protests. The concert was eventually canceled on Monday, July 21, 2025.

Gergiev is a well-known supporter of Putin who expressed support for the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014 and was among a group of Russian cultural figures who signed an open letter supporting Vladimir Putin. He has since become the Bolshoi Theatre’s director and elected Co-Chairman of the Union of Theater Performers of Russia.

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