Ukraine's Foreign Ministry urges German Opera to cancel performance of pro-Putin singer Netrebko

The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports.

"The comeback of Anna Netrebko to the Staatsoper Unter den Linden stage is a "normalization" and tolerance of Russian war crimes, for which Ms. Netrebko is jointly responsible. As a former Putin confidant and participant in the propaganda campaign for Russia's temporary occupation of Donetsk and Luhansk regions since 2014. Unfortunately, our arguments did not find a proper response from the German State Opera," the statement reads.

It is reported that the Embassy of Ukraine in Germany has been monitoring this issue since the first announcements appeared. The position of Ukraine was supported by the Senate of Berlin, personally by Mayor Kai Wegner and Cultural Senator Joe Chialo.

On September 15, the premiere night, Ukraine's Ambassador to Germany Oleksii Makeiev and Berlin Senator Joe Chialo visited the Russian War Crimes exhibition at the Humboldt University of Berlin, opposite the opera house, in protest.

On September 15, the evening of the premiere, Ukraine's Ambassador to Germany Oleksii Makeiev and Berlin Senator Joe Chialo will visit the Russian War Crimes exhibition at the Humboldt University of Berlin, opposite the opera, in protest.

"The voice of Ukraine in Germany should always be heard more than the soprano Anna Netrebko," the press service added.

• Earlier, the Metropolitan Opera replaced the Russian Netrebko with the Ukrainian Monastyrska in the opera Turandot. The reason for this decision was soprano Anna Netrebko's refusal to publicly support Putin.

• On August 17, the concert of Russian opera singer Anna Netrebko, which was to take place in October in Prague, was canceled: she publicly supports Russian President Putin and is on Ukraine's sanctions list.