As Ukraine bleeds, Western opera welcomes back pro-Putin Russian singer Anna Netrebko

More than three years into Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, many Western cultural institutions that had distanced themselves from Russian artists as a gesture of solidarity with Ukraine are now reversing course.

The U.K.’s Royal Ballet and Opera House announced on June 23 that its 2025-2026 cinema season, which is screened across 1,500 cinemas around the world, will kick off in early October with a performance of “Tosca” starring Russian soprano opera singer Anna Netrebko.

Once a leading figure in the opera world, Netrebko saw her performances canceled after 2022, following a history of remarks where she praised  Russian President Vladimir Putin and defended Russian imperialism.

Though she issued a statement condemning the full-scale invasion that year, Netrebko has stopped short of ever directly criticizing Putin, who granted her Russia’s highest artistic honor — the title of People’s Artist — in 2008.

"Anna Netrebko is, without a doubt, one of the most prominent and influential figures in the world of opera. That is precisely why the Putin regime elevated her — like other Russian artists — onto its cultural shield," Ukrainian soprano opera singer Sofia Soloviy told the Kyiv Independent.

"By inviting Russian performers who are connected to the current Moscow leadership to European and global stages, Putin's system is being legitimized — and with it, the horrific and bloody Russian aggression against Ukraine is being legitimized and justified."

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, many Ukrainians have argued that Russian culture can’t be separated from the country’s history of imperialism — a worldview they say is deeply embedded in its literature, music and art, and continues to fuel its aggression toward Ukraine and beyond.

What’s wrong with Netrebko

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Metropolitan Opera in New York canceled a series of scheduled performances by Netrebko, reportedly expecting her to publicly denounce Putin.

In response, Netrebko filed a lawsuit in 2023 seeking at least $360,000 in damages and accusing the Met of defamation and breach of contract.


While she spoke out against the full-scale war in a statement from May 2022, Netrebko also declared “I love my homeland of Russia and only seek peace and unity through my art.”

Netrebko has repeatedly expressed views and took actions prior to 2022 that signaled admiration — even support — for the Russian authoritarian regime.

“I think she is always doing what benefits her career. Until 2022, being Putin’s ‘court soprano’ and a protege of conductor Valery Gergiev — another pillar of the Kremlin’s influence in the world, who was sanctioned by the government of Canada just few days ago — was very good for her,” Ukrainian classical pianist Pavlo Gintov, who lives and performs in the West, told the Kyiv Independent.

“Since 2022, Netrebko has been trying to balance two worlds: continuing her performances in the West while avoiding an open break with Putin’s regime. And, as you can see, so far she has been quite successful.”

After Russia’s invasion of Georgia, Netrebko told Russian state media in 2009, “I am always unambiguously for Russia,” dismissing international coverage of the war as “extremely negative” attacks on her country.

In a Newsweek profile from 2011, Netrebko laughed off rumors from the Russian tabloids claiming she had been Putin’s lover, adding “I’d love to have been” and that “he’s a very attractive man” with “strong, male energy.”

In 2014, Netrebko made a donation of one million rubles to an opera house in Russian-occupied Donetsk, claiming it was an act of solidarity for her fellow artists suffering from the war and that there was nothing political about it.

However, she was photographed alongside Oleg Tsaryov, a pro-Russian Ukrainian politician, at the event in St. Petersburg where she made the donation. Both were seen holding the flag of the Russian occupation forces in Donetsk.

Putin praised Netrebko's "life-affirming spirit" and "clear civic stance" in a public tribute marking her 50th birthday in 2021 that was published on the Kremlin's website.

“Only a photo with the bandits and their Moscow handlers could be a better illustration of the global disgrace of the Royal Opera House,” wrote Ukrainian Foreign Minister Sergiy Kyslytsya on June 24 on X, formerly known as Twitter, referencing the notorious photo in response to the Royal Opera House’s lineup announcement.

Larger trend

Netrebko’s return to Western opera marks a tentative shift in the West’s cultural landscape, as institutions begin to welcome Russian artists back more than three years after their country’s full-scale war against Ukraine cast a long shadow over their global standing.

Among these cultural figures are those who support Putin outright, those who oppose the war, or those who are deliberately trying to blur the line between the two.

As Western institutions move toward reintegrating Russian cultural figures into their cultural programs, Moscow has intensified its military campaign against Ukraine, launching record numbers of drones and missiles with increasing frequency, causing greater casualties.

This thaw raises ethical questions about complicity and accountability, such as when Russian actor Yura Borisov’s 2024 Oscar nomination for best supporting actor in the film “Anora.”

Previously, Borisov starred in a Russian propaganda biopic about Mikhail Kalashnikov, the inventor of the AK-47, which was filmed in Russian-occupied Crimea and released in 2020.

Though Borisov’s name appeared on a 2022 statement by a Russian film actors’ union opposing the full-scale war, he didn’t mention it once during his major press tour for “Anora.”

Russian journalist Anastasia Trofimova also stirred outrage for her documentary “Russians at War,” which she claimed was meant to “humanize” Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine “beyond the fog of war.”

Ukrainians and their supporters sought to have the film removed from several international film festivals due to Trofimova’s previous involvement with Russian state media and the documentary’s attempt to dissociate Russian soldiers from war crimes committed in Ukraine. Despite these efforts, a number of screenings have taken place.

The film was screened at three festivals in Canada, and although it was pulled from a number of other international festivals over protests, it remained in competition at the Athens International Film Festival in 2024.

At the 2025 Photo London Festival, Russian fashion designer and photographer Gosha Rubchinsky presented his new photo book, “Victory Day,” which romanticizes Soviet army imagery that has been used to rally support amid Russians for the war against Ukraine.

While Western cultural institutions rekindle ties with Russian artists, Ukrainian artists continue to be killed — whether in Russia’s daily strikes on cities or while serving on the front line — underscoring the war’s unrelenting toll on Ukraine’s cultural life.

For many Ukrainians, the inclusion of Russian cultural figures in the West is extremely painful, Gintov said — an oversight that ignores the painful reality of a nation still fighting for its survival.

“All this is happening while Russian artists like Netrebko — who openly and vocally supported Putin’s policies for many years, including his invasion of Ukraine in 2014 — are gaining applause in Berlin and in London. Something is fundamentally wrong about it.”

Note from the author:

Hi there, it's Kate Tsurkan, thanks for reading my latest article. On the same day I wrote this article, I also wrote another about my friend Victoria Amelina, a Ukrainian author who was killed by Russia, posthumously winning a prestigious literary award. It's bitter and surreal to see the world begin to move on from caring about the ways Russian culture and Russian aggression are connected. Of course, this is not to say that every Russian artist is supportive of the war — but in Netrebko's case, there's a lot of past statements that raise troubling questions. If you like reading this sort of thing, please consider supporting us and becoming a member of the Kyiv Independent today.