Putin-Linked Conductor Catches Ire of Navalny Widow

Russian leader's ally is set to perform at Italian festival, and Yulia Navalnaya isn't having it
Posted Jul 15, 2025 10:25 AM CDT
Navalny's Widow to Italy: Drop Putin-Linked Conductor
Valery Gergiev, Russian conductor, attends a meeting of the board of trustees of Bolshoi and Mariinsky theaters with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin Senate in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, May 13, 2025.   (Sergei Bobylev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Yulia Navalnaya, widow of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, is urging Italy to revoke an invitation extended to Valery Gergiev, a conductor with strong Kremlin ties, to perform at a major music festival later this month. Gergiev, known for his decades-long alliance with Vladimir Putin, is set to headline the Un'Estate da Re festival at La Reggia di Caserta—the conductor's first European booking since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, per the Guardian. Italy's decision breaks ranks with a wider European freeze on pro-Kremlin artists. The festival invitation, backed by Campania region president Vincenzo De Luca, has sparked backlash.

De Luca defends the move, arguing that culture should remain above political friction. Navalnaya, writing in La Repubblica, describes Gergiev as a "promoter" of Putin's "criminal policies," calling his concert "a gift to the dictator." She points out Gergiev's public support for Moscow, including his 2012 Putin campaign endorsement, backing for the 2014 annexation of Crimea, and a high-profile concert in Syria. Later Tuesday, Italy's culture minister, Alessandro Giuli, backed Navalnaya in a statement, per France 24: "Ukraine is an invaded nation and Gergiev's concert could transform a high-level ... musical event into a platform for Russian propaganda. For me, this would be deplorable."

Gergiev was previously ousted from top European venues, including Milan's La Scala, for refusing to denounce Russia's invasion. Navalny family aide Ruslan Shaveddinov warned that welcoming Gergiev could "normalize Putin's regime" in the West and urged cancellation of the concert, along with the imposition of sanctions on Gergiev, per the Guardian.

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