This is a retaliatory measure: the State Duma named the reason for the cancellation of Emin's concert in the Russian Federation

Kaliningrad authorities canceled the concert of Azerbaijani artist Emin Agalarov, fearing possible negativity. This opinion was expressed by the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Culture Elena Drapeko ("Fair Russia — For the truth").

"I think this is a retaliatory measure. On the one hand, we have a statement by the Foreign Ministry that we will not cancel Azerbaijani culture, but the cancellation of all Russian cultural events in Azerbaijan causes irritation. It is possible that the regional authorities are afraid of a negative reaction from the audience," she told the NSN portal.

Drapeko believes that we need to wait "until the wave passes and everything calms down."

"We had very close ties with Azerbaijan, tours, and now the political situation has frowned — this has also affected the culture. We just have to wait out this period, and we will return to cooperation," she concluded.

As EADaily reported, earlier Azerbaijan announced the cancellation of all cultural events on the Russian line.

At the same time, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Culture, composer and singer Denis Maidanov expressed confidence that the Russian side would not stoop to persecuting artists. In particular, he ruled out canceling Emin Agalarov's concerts.

On July 3, it became known that Emin's concert in Svetlogorsk, scheduled for July 6, 2025, is postponed for a year.

The artist himself explained the postponement of the concert by "the inability to agree on the next dates." At the same time, Emin promised that he would definitely perform in the Kaliningrad region in July 2026.