The State Duma called the cancellation of Gergiev's concert in Caserta a punishment of Italians for themselves

By canceling the symphony concert of the Russian conductor and director general of the Bolshoi Theater Valery Gergiev, the Italians punished themselves. Oleg Matveychev, Deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications, shared this belief with Izvestia on July 21.

"Italians have punished themselves: when someone cuts themselves off from Russian culture, they make themselves poorer. <...> These are the Europeans who used to resist the Americans themselves when they were forced to introduce this "cancellation culture," and now they seem to have gone crazy and are doing these things," he said.

Matveychev expressed confidence that such measures would not be approved by the Italian society, which, in his opinion, loves music very much.

Concert Square: Gergiev at the Kremlin walls, Brecht at Mikhalkov

The main cultural events of the coming week according to Izvestia

The management of the Royal Palace in Caserta canceled Gergiev's symphony concert earlier in the day. The concert with Gergiev's participation caused outrage among opposition circles and fears of possible protests that could be organized with the participation of the Ukrainian side on July 27.

In turn, Russian Ambassador to Italy Alexey Paramonov said that the artificially created situation with the cancellation of Valery Gergiev's concert looks inappropriate and causes consternation. The press service of the Royal Palace in Caserta, Italy, did not provide Izvestia with an explanation for the cancellation of the concert.