The cancellations of performances by Russian artists in Italy, judged to be discriminatory acts, and the Italian supplies of arms to Kiev as part of a Western policy which is causing an "escalation" of the Ukrainian conflict.
These are the two issues on which Moscow has expressed all its dissatisfaction with a message sent to Rome through the ambassador to Russia, Giorgio Starace.
The Foreign Ministry said it had "summoned the Italian ambassador", to whom it expressed "dismay at the recent cancellation" of performances by Russian artists in Italy.
The press release does not mention which events are referred to, but it is known that the latest case concerns the cancellation of the concert by internationally renowned pianist
Denis Matsuev
, accused of being a supporter of Vladimir Putin's policies, which should have performed in May at the International Festival of Bergamo and Brescia, this year capitals of Italian culture.ù
The cancellations of cultural events "unfortunately testify to a tendency to discriminate against Russian artists", complains the diplomacy of Moscow, echoing the protest already expressed by the Russian embassy in Italy, which had recalled how Matsuev's exclusion was decided after the request in this sense of the Ukrainian ambassador, Yaroslav Melnyk.
"Will the Ukrainian embassy in Italy continue to censor Italian concert halls and theaters or is there hope that Italy can still defend its sovereignty in this field?" the Russian diplomatic mission controversially asked. .
In the conversation with Starace, the reference of the Russian authorities to the
Italian military supplies to Ukraine
is more nuanced .
In its statement, the Foreign Ministry says it has "informed" the ambassador of Moscow's "assessments" regarding "the current supplies of arms and military equipment to the Kiev regime, including offensive weapons, the training of Ukrainian military personnel and, in general, the line of the West to provoke an escalation of the conflict".
The exclusions of musicians, and in some cases also of Russian compositions or works of literature, from cultural events in the West have particularly affected Russian leaders, who never miss an opportunity to denounce what they define as a 'culture cancel'
policy
.
A policy, they point out in Moscow, which was not followed even during the Cold War.
The Matsuev episode had been preceded, again this year, by two other excellent cases involving artists who were also judged to be supporters of Putin's military operation in Ukraine: the Russian dancer (of Ukrainian origin) Sergei Polunin , to whom
he
closed the doors of the Arcimboldi Theater in Milan, and the Ukrainian-American pianist
Valentina Lisitsa
, who was unable to perform at the Fenice in Venice.
Last December, Moscow showed its appreciation for La Scala's decision to inaugurate the season with Mussorgsky's 'Boris Godunov', despite the protests of the Ukrainian consul in Milan, Adrii Kartysh.
On the occasion of the premiere, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had called for the need not to "mix dimensions that are different", the political and the cultural.
Recalling those words, the Russian Foreign Ministry now states that the exclusion of Russian artists from the Italian scene "is in contrast with the statements of representatives of the Italian leadership on the importance of maintaining a single European and world cultural space and the inadmissibility of erect barriers based on nationality".
