Ukrainians in UK protest longtime Putin-aligned opera singer at Royal Opera

The Ukrainian community in the United Kingdom (UK) once again protested the performance of the pro-Kremlin Russian opera singer Anna Netrebko, 54, at the historic Royal Opera House in London. 

The demonstration took place on Sept. 18 in central London, according to one of the protesters Yuliya Parashchenyuk.

The civic protest coincided with a concert that featured Netrebko, who was earlier invited to perform in the opening of this season’s opera staging. 

Demonstrators sounded an air raid siren as a symbol of Russia’s war against Ukraine, which the singer has publicly supported.

“While she sings arias, we hear sirens. Because in Ukraine, children fall asleep to the sound of air raids. Sirens are their lullabies. Many never wake up,” Parashchenyuk said.

Netrebko’s support for Kremlin ruler Vladimir Putin is recorded as dating to 2012 when she posed with the flag of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic after Russia’s illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. 

Then in 2014 and after the all-out Russian invasion of Ukraine, she hesitated to condemn Russia directly for its unjustified war mongering. 

Protesters said that the Royal Opera House is complicit in Russia’s war by hosting Netrebko.

“You call this art? This is complicity. While our opera houses are bombed — Mariupol, Kharkiv, Dnipro — you give your stage to the voice of a terrorist state,” the protesters said.

Several dozen people joined the demonstration. Among the organizers was the Ukrainian group London Euromaidan.

“Tonight, Royal Opera House lost its crown. You are no longer royal — you are putin’s stage,” the community said.

Earlier, fifty cultural and political figures from Ukraine and around the world urged the London opera house to withdraw Netrebko’s invitation. In May, the Berlin-based Ukrainian organization Vitsche Berlin protested her concerts in Germany.

Netrebko also holds Austrian citizenship. Ukraine added her to its sanctions list in 2023.