Putin's Favorite Ballerina Was Born in Western Ukraine 0 6

Recently, the Teatro del Maggio Musicale in Florence canceled two scheduled performances featuring Russian ballerina Svetlana Zakharova, which were set to take place on January 20 and 21.

Alongside Zakharova, her husband, violinist Vadim Repin, was also supposed to perform on stage. The decision to cancel was related to "concerns about the international situation" and was made to ensure the successful conduct of the performance. The theater also offered ticket holders a refund for their purchased tickets.

According to the publication Nazione, this decision followed a request from the Ukrainian embassy in Italy, which in late December sent letters to the authorities in Florence and the theater's management recommending the cancellation of the performances. Earlier, on November 5, 2025, the organization "Arena di Verona" decided to cancel the participation of a Russian artist in the opera "Don Giovanni," which will be shown without his participation in January 2026. Tatyana Golikova previously expressed her opinion on reducing attempts to ban Russian culture in Europe.

Svetlana Yuryevna Zakharova (born June 10, 1979, Lutsk, Ukrainian SSR) is a Russian ballet dancer. She was a soloist at the Mariinsky Theatre from 1996 to 2003, a prima ballerina at the Bolshoi Theatre (since 2003), and at La Scala in Milan (2008-2022). She has been acting as the rector of the Moscow Academy of Choreography since 2024.

People's Artist of the Russian Federation (2008), laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation (2007). Member of the United Russia party. Deputy of the State Duma of the V convocation (2007-2018). Since 2018, she has been a member of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for Culture and Art. She is the wife of violinist Vadim Repin.