ROME, March 17 (Reuters) – Celebrated Russian ballerina Svetlana Zakharova has been excluded from a dance gala beginning in Rome this month, organisers said, in the latest political dispute over the participation of Russian artists in cultural events in Italy.
A star of Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre, Zakharova has been a vocal supporter of President Vladimir Putin. She had been due to perform at the “Les Etoiles” gala in the Italian capital on March 20 to 21.
The gala’s organisers said that in deciding to exclude Zakharova they had received “institutional communications … that have highlighted the symbolic responsibility of cultural institutions in the current context”.
They did not immediately respond to a request for comment on who had sent the communication. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine in the war and of sanctions against Russia.
They said there was a risk of the event being “misunderstood or exploited”, despite their hope to build bridges through art.
Zakharova’s exclusion comes after a contested decision by the Venice Biennale art exhibition to reopen its Russian pavilion – which has been closed since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine – for this year’s edition which runs from May to November.
Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, whose far-right League party had close ties to Putin’s United Russia party prior to the Ukraine war, backed the Biennale’s decision, and on Tuesday criticised the exclusion of Zakharova as “Russophobia”.
“We must make an effort to end this war. Excluding Russian dancers, painters, or athletes does not resolve the conflict, it only complicates it,” he said in an interview with radio RTL 102.5.
Italian events have attempted on several occasions to host Russian artists, only to back down in the face of criticism. Last year authorities cancelled a classical concert in a palace near Naples over the planned participation of Russian conductor Valery Gergiev, widely regarded as close to Putin.
Zakharova, 46, was born in Ukraine – then part of the Soviet Union – and was a Russian member of parliament for United Russia from 2008 to 2012. She was removed from an arts festival in Florence in January after objections from the Ukrainian embassy.
(Writing by Francesca Piscioneri; Editing by Gavin Jones and Alison Williams)
