Vladimir Putin assembled the board of trustees of the Mariinsky Theater: there was only one foreigner

Vladimir Putin held a meeting of the Mariinsky Theater Board of Trustees, which has not met since 2017. Compared to previous times, the list of participants has noticeably thinned out: instead of more than 40 Russian and foreign businessmen who discussed the development of the famous theater venue several years ago, only 13 gathered at the Konstantinovsky Palace for this one. Putin said that in the conditions of aggressive discrimination against Russian culture, support for patrons of the arts -especially important.

On October 5, the famous Mariinsky Theater will celebrate the 240th anniversary of its foundation. On this occasion, the theater’s board of trustees met at the Konstantinovsky Palace. Dmitry Peskov, announcing the meeting, admitted that the trustees had not met with the president for a long time, mainly “due to Covid.” The events were held in 2010, 2015 and 2017, after which there was a five-year break, during which a lot happened, not just the pandemic. Apparently, due to the SBO, there were practically no foreigners among the meeting participants (previously, the trustees included heads of Russian divisions of such companies as Bombardier, BP, Total, etc., but they no longer work in Russia), and among the ranks of domestic businessmen there were noticeable losses. Some, like Mikhail Prokhorov, sold off their assets and, according to some sources, moved to live in Israel. Others, like Vagit Alekperov, left leadership positions. Still others, like Alexey Ananyev, are on the run and under investigation.

This time, the meeting in the Konstantinovsky Palace was attended by a “damn dozen” Russian entrepreneurs, including what is called the main core in the person of German Gref, Andrey Kostin, Alexey Miller and Oleg Belozerov, as well as Alexey Kudrin, who joined the business after leaving the Accounts Chamber for Yandex , who, as it turned out, is the co-chairman of the board of trustees. As for foreigners, there was only one, and even then in a new role. If previously Christophe Degumois was listed as one of the top managers of Bombardier, this time he represented a company under the intriguing name “Rocks of fire”, which, according to data from the World Wide Web, is based in friendly Oman and specializes on providing logistics services that are now so important for Russia.

Opening the meeting, Vladimir Putin emphasized that the Mariinsky Theater is a unique phenomenon in the cultural life of Russia. The theater not only works a lot at its main location in St. Petersburg, but is also actively expanding its geography. In addition to three venues in the northern capital, there is a venue in Vladivostok and two stages in Vladikavkaz on the basis of the local opera and ballet theater and the State Philharmonic. At the end of 2024, the seventh branch of the Mariinsky Theater should open in Kemerovo. “The theater has taken on a large and very important mission – to ensure the availability of productions and performances by world-class artists for residents of the regions of Russia,” Putin said.

Artistic director of the Mariinsky Theater Valery Gergiev praised Catherine the Second for the decree on the founding of the theater. And Alexander II “for a truly royal gift” – a building built in 1860. He recalled that the Mariinsky received a second gift of comparable scale only under Vladimir Putin – first the second stage of the theater was built, and then – with the “tremendous support of the board of trustees” – a concert hall with incredible acoustics. “Thank you very much, Vladimir Vladimirovich, because the second stage – and this is precisely a gift from the country, this is your decision – has incredibly enlarged our capabilities,” Gergiev said. He noted that the priority for the Mariinsky troupe has always been and remains performances in their native St. Petersburg. Compared to 2010, their number has increased significantly.

As for the work and development of branches, here, apparently, the situation is not so clear-cut. At least, when Vladimir Putin asked to outline the problems facing the theater, Gergiev immediately started talking about Vladikavkaz, where two halls are being built. According to him, there is no state money in the North Caucasus project and there will not be any. But with non-state ones, difficulties seem to have arisen. Although the management, the artistic director assured, is acting “quickly and boldly” and has set ambitious goals to turn Vladikavkaz into a major cultural center. “We are faced with quite complex issues – we’ll talk about this briefly, but very clearly, it seems to me, a little later,” Gergiev noted, not wanting to wash dirty linen in public. “And now I would like to thank everyone who finds it possible to support the Mariinsky Theater.” According to him, artists also need support. “She began to remind herself more acutely, this is a necessity,” added the maestro.

Vladimir Putin agreed that the role of patrons of art in the current conditions has increased significantly. “Now support is especially important: Russian, domestic art, our artists are faced with quite aggressive discrimination, attempts to cancel our history, music, ballet, theater, literature, painting, our achievements in this area,” he complained. According to VVP, everyone who does this is robbing themselves: “such actions are insignificant against the background of the greatness of Russian art.” Putin said that at a meeting of the board of trustees it is planned to discuss the further development of the Mariinsky Theater – “to talk about what can and should definitely be done in the near future.”

Alexei Kudrin, running past the journalists after the end of the event, made it clear that the discussion was a success for the theater. “There are sponsors who constantly support the theater. They will increase their support. It’s already quite big, but it will be specifically increased,” he promised without going into details. Kudrin noted that the Mariinsky theater team is large and powerful, but its touring opportunities “after the pandemic and other restrictions” have decreased. This means that we must understand that earnings have also decreased. He did not specify what specific losses he was talking about. However, the rest of the patrons, including the second co-chairman of the council, German Gref, refrained from commenting at all.