DISINFO: The Gergiev case fits into the Euro-Atlantic war plans promoted by EU cut-throats

DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS

  • Outlet: lantidiplomatico.it ( archive, original )
  • Date of publication: July 22, 2025
  • Article language(s): Italian
  • Countries / regions discussed: Italy, Russia, EU, Ukraine

DISINFO: The Gergiev case fits into the Euro-Atlantic war plans promoted by EU cut-throats

SUMMARY

The Gergiev case is part of the war propaganda and psychological preparation of the European masses for war. The Gergiev case fuels war propaganda and serves as an overture to the symphonies of Euro-war trombones. The Gergiev affair fits into the Euro-Atlantic war plans promoted by the cut-throat scoundrels of Brussels, Rome, Paris, Berlin, and Warsaw, who continue on the path to war, warning the European peoples that Russia will attack instead.

RESPONSE

Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative, part of a wider disinformation campaign to frame the EU as a warmongering and an aggressive power opposed to peace.

The claim that the Gergiev case is part of Euro-Atlantic war plans promoted by the EU is unfounded.

The disinformation story refers to the cancellation of a concert in Italy by Valery Gergiev a top Russian conductor with close ties to Vladimir Putin after a widespread outcry.

Valery Gergiev, who has repeatedly expressed support for Putin, was scheduled to lead a local orchestra at a music festival on 27 July at the Reggia di Caserta, a former Bourbon palace near Naples. However, the management of the UNESCO World Heritage site announced in a brief statement on Monday that his performance had been cancelled.

Gergiev’s appearance would have marked his first in Europe since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

After 24 February 2022, Gergiev was suspended from most major European music institutions with which he was affiliated as principal or guest conductor. A long-time ally of Putin, he also lost his position as chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic, a role he had held since 2015.

The cancellation came after more than 16,000 people, including Nobel laureates, as well as Italian and international politicians and activists, signed a letter addressed to De Luca and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, calling for Gergiev’s appearance to be cancelled.

Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of Alexei Navalny who died in an Arctic prison last year, wrote in an op-ed published by La Repubblica last week that Gergiev’s performance would be “a gift to the dictator”. She said the 72-year-old was not only a “dear friend” and supporter of Putin but also a “promoter” of Putin's “criminal policies”.

Amid the controversy, Italy's Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli stated that art should be free from censorship, but stressed that in Gergiev’s case, it was not about art but propaganda.

Pro-Kremlin disinformation has systematically instrumentalised the narrative that Russia wants peace in Ukraine in contrast to the West, but, as evidenced by Russia's actions in Ukraine, such statements are merely empty PR stunts deployed to garner support for Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine.

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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