Yulia Navalnaya* called on the Italian authorities to cancel the performance of the Russian conductor, People's Artist of the Russian Federation Valery Gergiev at the Un'estate da RE festival in southern Italy. She stated this in an interview with the Italian edition of La Repubblica.
In her text, she calls the conductor a "close friend" and "colleague" of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"How is it possible that in the summer of 2025 Valery Gergiev, included in the sanctions lists of several countries, was suddenly invited to Italy for a festival?" writes Navalnaya*.
One of the supporters of Alexei Navalny's widow* believes that Gergiev's performance at the prestigious European festival would be "a great gift for Moscow," he told The Guardian.
As reported by EADaily, Gergiev is scheduled to perform on July 27, 2025 at the Royal Palace of Caserta with the Philharmonic Orchestra from Salerno and the soloists of the Mariinsky Theater. The last time Gergiev performed in Italy was on February 23, 2022.
Earlier, the vice-speaker of the European Parliament, Pina Picerno, called on the social network X to cancel Gergiev's speech.
Prior to that, she achieved the exclusion of the Russian opera singer, Honored Artist of Russia Ildar Abdrazakov from the troupe of the Neapolitan San Carlo Theater.
Vincenzo De Luca, president of the Campania region, where the festival will take place, said he would be "proud" to receive the Russian conductor. According to him, local authorities have always encouraged the presence of Jews and Palestinians, Russians and Ukrainians at cultural events, trying not to mix the political and cultural levels.
The artistic director of the festival refused to comment on the situation, and the festival representative confidently stated that Gergiev's concert would take place.
Earlier, participants of 36 Ukrainian organizations in Italy sent letters to the Minister of Culture of Italy Alessandro Giuli, the president of the Campania region Vincenzo De Luca, the mayor of Caserta Carlo Marino, the artistic director of the festival Antonio Marzullo and other responsible persons demanding to cancel the performance of the Russian conductor.
Also, Ukrainian organizations announced that they were buying tickets for Gergiev's concert in case it was not canceled.
*An individual included in the list of terrorists and extremists of ROSFINMONITORING