Anna Netrebko: She condemns Putin’s war in Ukraine

Anna Netrebko
She condemns Putin’s war in Ukraine

There is a lot of pressure on Anna Netrebko (50). The opera singer has lost a number of engagements in recent weeks, and the media coverage of her does not stop. The reason is the criticism of her supposed proximity to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (69), who is currently waging a war of aggression in Ukraine. In a new statement, the opera diva has now clearly distanced herself from it.

“I expressly condemn the war against Ukraine and my thoughts are with the victims of this war and their families,” she says through her lawyer. Her position is “clear”: “I am not a member of any political party, nor am I affiliated with any leader in Russia.” Netrebko “recognize and regret that some of my actions or statements in the past could be misinterpreted”.

Anna Netrebko ‘only met Putin a handful of times’

The singer emphasizes that she has “only met Putin a handful of times” in her life – “mainly at the presentation of awards for my art or at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games”. The 50-year-old has “otherwise never received any financial support from the Russian government”. She also lives in Austria, “where I am also resident for tax purposes”.

She goes on to say that she “loves” her native country, Russia. Through her art she strives “exclusively for peace and unity”. After she had declared at the beginning of March that she wanted to withdraw from concert life for the time being, she is now announcing new concerts: “After the announced break in performances, I will resume my opera and concert appearances at the end of May, initially in Europe.”

Previously, the Bavarian State Opera, the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden and the Metropolitan Opera in New York had canceled the artist’s engagements in their houses. As a reason led about the Bavarian State Opera “a lack of adequate distancing” from Russia’s war in Ukraine.

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