K. West, also known by his stage name Ye, will perform on October 10 and 11 at the Gazprom Arena in Saint Petersburg – if these concerts take place, the US rapper will become one of the biggest international music stars to visit Russia since Moscow launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
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Most American and European performers avoid Russia, which has been hit with massive sanctions since the start of the war.
K. West has loyal fans in Russia and, according to Russian media citing concert organizers, more than 100,000 tickets have already been sold for these performances.
Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov was asked on Thursday during the daily press conference if there are any plans for a meeting between V. Putin and K. West.
“That is not our area. It is not Mosconcert,” Peskov replied to the journalist, referring to the Russian cultural agency.
“It is the presidential administration,” he added, but did not clearly rule out the possibility of a meeting.
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Lawmakers and officials also got involved in the stir.
While one of them thanked the rapper for not succumbing to “anti-Russian hysteria,” parliamentarian Nikolai Novichkov criticized K. West’s statements expressing admiration for the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
K. West sparked widespread outrage with his comments praising A. Hitler, his song titled “Heil Hitler,” and the sale of T-shirts with a swastika on his website.
Under Russia’s “law against the rehabilitation of Nazism,” Holocaust denial and spreading false information about the Third Reich are punishable by several years of imprisonment.
This law is constantly used to crack down on Kremlin critics.
Several countries – including the United Kingdom, France, and Poland – banned K. West from performing this year.
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