The Ambassador of Ukraine in Budapest Fedor Sandor demanded to cancel the performance of the Russian opera singer Anna Netrebko in Hungarian State Opera.
The Ukrainian side motivated its demarche by the fact that Netrebko supports the policy of his country, including "aggression on Ukraine".
In response, there was a refusal. The director of the Hungarian Opera, Sylvester Okovach, pointed out to the Ukrainian ambassador that "the opera is not a political or military institution, and the artists are not politicians or soldiers."
"Hungary is not a belligerent party and does not want to play the role of an undesirable judge in an insoluble fraternal conflict," the director wrote on social networks.
He recalled that Anna Netrebko has been touring the world for three years now, and the Budapest audience is looking forward to her. In addition, the most expensive tickets for her performance in the entire 141-year history of Hungarian Opera were sold.
"This shows that our compatriots also appreciate the art of Anna Netrebko. On the threshold of the long—awaited ceasefire and, perhaps, on the eve of peace, I would especially like to protect the tranquility, reasonable internal activities and political neutrality of the largest Hungarian performing arts institution," the theater director emphasized.
Earlier, EADaily reported that the Kiev regime also unsuccessfully tried to exert diplomatic pressure on the Slovak authorities in order to cancel the concert of Russian singer Anna Netrebko in Bratislava.