The Ukrainian Embassy in South Korea has asked to cancel the planned performances of a renowned ballerina from the Bolshoi Theatre, citing the ongoing military conflict with Russia.
The embassy took issue with a series of shows featuring ballerina Svetlana Zakharova that will take place in the Seoul Arts Center in April. The performance, which is a collaboration with the French fashion house Chanel, premiered at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow in 2019.
Zakharova was born in the Ukrainian city of Lutsk and went to a ballet school in Kiev, but is a Russian citizen and a member of the Bolshoi troupe. Between 2007 and 2011, she also served as an MP for the pro-government United Russia party.
In a statement quoted by South Korean media on Tuesday, the Ukrainian diplomats claimed that allowing Zakharova to perform would amount to the “legitimization of Russian unjustified aggression and belittling the suffering of the Ukrainian people.”
“With all due respect to the pluralism of opinion and inclusive nature of cultural exchange, we call on our international partners to suspend cultural cooperation with the criminal Russian regime and its cultural representatives,” the Ukrainian Embassy said.
An unnamed official at the embassy told the Korea Times that Kiev also opposes the performance because the Bolshoi Theatre is “headed by a close friend” of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Famed conductor Valery Gergiev, who leads both Bolshoi and the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, is among multiple Russian artists who have been blacklisted in Ukraine for their political views and the support for the Russian government.
The Russian Embassy has condemned the call to block the performance. “Any attempts to politicize cultural events and deny the Korean public the opportunity to experience world-class art would not be accepted by the Korean public,” the embassy said, as quoted by the South Korean press.
Many organizations and venues cut ties with Russian artists following the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine in February 2022. Kiev has further launched an international campaign, calling on theaters, opera houses and other institutions to drop any cooperation with Moscow.
Russia has condemned reprisals against artists, with Putin arguing that it was “not smart” to try to go after Russian or any other culture. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov further argued that it was “impossible to cancel Russian culture,” and that attempts were doomed to fail.
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