In a wide-ranging interview with Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung published on July 2, German Federal Commissioner for Culture and the Media Claudia Roth said: “What I find completely wrong would be a boycott of everything that is Russian culture. A mayor in North Rhine-Westphalia recently banned a youth orchestra from playing Tchaikovsky. There was a public discussion, then they were allowed to play it after all. But of course the debate rages on. There is a great deal of uncertainty about how to deal with Russian culture. I believe that a boycott is completely wrong, because it is often the Russian artists who try to maintain the last freedoms. And there is such great Russian culture, be it music, be it literature, be it Anton Chekhov. I’m not going to let Putin take Chekhov from me!”
RT also reported that, “Sergey Loznitsa, a prominent Ukrainian director and screenwriter of Belarusian origin, said in his acceptance speech at the Cannes Film Festival that all cultural figures had suddenly found themselves ‘on the front line.’ He spoke out against ‘canceling’ Russian culture, claiming that ‘there is no logic or sense’ to respond to the ‘barbarism’ by ‘demanding the destruction or abolition of what has always opposed barbarism.’
“The Cardiff Philharmonic Orchestra in Wales removed Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s famous 1812 Overture, which celebrates Russia’s successful defense against Napoleon, from its program, claiming it was ‘inappropriate.’ Meanwhile, a university in Milan, Italy tried to suspend a course on acclaimed Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky, saying it was trying to avoid tensions by focusing on Ukrainian authors instead. After a public backlash, the decision was reversed.
