Moscow complains of 'political games' after Russian ballet shows in South Korea cancelled

Russia's embassy in South Korea complained on Friday about what it called a campaign to discredit Russian ballet, warning art should not "become hostage to political games", after an arts centre in Seoul cancelled performances by a Russian ballerina.

Russia's embassy in South Korea complained on Friday about what it called a campaign to discredit Russian ballet, warning art should not "become hostage to political games", after an arts centre in Seoul cancelled performances by a Russian ballerina. The Modanse ballet, which celebrates the life of French fashion designer Coco Chanel, was scheduled to run from April 17-21 at the Seoul Arts Centre. But the venue said on Friday that the performances had been cancelled "in consideration for the safety of the audience and artists".

The ballet's star, Svetlana Zakharova, is a Ukrainian-born Russian prima ballerina at Russia's famed Bolshoi Theatre, which first put on the Modanse ballet but which says it is unaffiliated with the performances in South Korea. Zakharova is also a vocal supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022, and her scheduled shows in Korea swiftly drew the ire of the Ukrainian embassy there.

The embassy last week slammed the decision to host the ballet in Seoul, saying that "showing performers from an aggressor country is tantamount to justifying Russia's unjust invasion and downplaying the suffering of the Ukrainian people," according to excerpts from a statement released by Korean media. The Russian ballet company organising the shows in Seoul, MuzArts, could not immediately be reached for comment on Friday.

The Russian embassy in Seoul pushed back on Friday against what it called an "unscrupulous campaign" to "discredit the upcoming concerts of Russian ballet", saying such "politicised obscurantism should have no place in the modern world." Cooperation in art and culture "should not become hostage to political games," the embassy said in a statement.

The South Korean Culture Ministry could not immediately be reached for comment outside of working hours on Friday. The dispute, which has seen tit-for-tat statements traded between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Seoul, is the latest example of how the Ukraine war has encroached into the artistic sphere.

Many Russian artists have been subjected to a cultural boycott and scores of international events featuring Russians have been cancelled. The state-owned Bolshoi Theatre, founded in 1776 by Empress Catherine the Great as the crown jewel of Russian culture, relaunched international performances last year with a tour to China after being shunned in the West.

Zakharova, 44, was born in what is now northwestern Ukraine and studied choreography in Kyiv until she was accepted at a prestigious ballet school in St Petersburg. She debuted with the Mariinsky Ballet there while in her teens and moved to Moscow's Bolshoi in 2003. (Reporting and writing by Lucy Papachristou; additional reporting by Heekyong Yang in Seoul; editing by Andrew Osborn and Mark Heinrich)

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