Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, has accused the Royal Opera House of a "betrayal" for inviting Russian soprano Anna Netrebko to open its season in London, saying the move risks normalising ties to Moscow amid its war in Ukraine.
In an op-ed published in the Daily Mail, Zaluzhnyi — a former commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces who is known as the "Iron General" — described Netrebko’s appearance at Covent Garden as "a test" by Vladimir Putin of Britain’s support for Kyiv. The Royal Opera House invited Netrebko back for the first time in six years to sing the title role in Puccini's Tosca on Thursday, prompting protests from Ukrainian groups and criticism from officials.
Zaluzhnyi wrote that Netrebko’s career connections to the Kremlin make her return to a world-famous stage painful for Ukrainians, and he urged audiences and institutions to remember what he said were her past acts of political support for Russian authorities. More than 200 Ukrainian organisations have written to the Royal Opera House protesting the engagement, and the ambassador said he had raised the matter with the theatre’s chief executive, Alex Beard, as well as with the Foreign Office and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
The Royal Opera House said in a statement that its earlier decisions in support of Ukraine "were aligned with the global consensus at the time," and that its stance has evolved "to ensure that our actions reflect our purpose and values." A spokesman added that the company seeks to present "the best talent from around the world" and that every casting decision is made with "great care and thoughtful consideration." Netrebko’s representatives did not respond to requests for comment through the Royal Opera House.
Netrebko, one of the most prominent operatic sopranos of her generation, has courted controversy over relations with Russian political figures. Zaluzhnyi’s op-ed and other critics point to appearances with President Vladimir Putin, her role as a Russian "trusted representative" in the 2012 presidential election, and a 2014 visit to the Russian-held Donetsk region in which she appeared with a flag associated with pro-Russian separatists. Netrebko has since said she did not understand the significance of the flag at the time, has moved to Austria, renounced her Russian passport and in 2022 posted that she opposed the "senseless war of aggression" in Ukraine while declining to criticise Putin personally.
The controversy dates back to 2022, when New York’s Metropolitan Opera cut ties with Netrebko following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Netrebko sued the Met for breach of contract and defamation; a federal judge initially dismissed most claims, but in July of this year allowed parts of the case to proceed on claims of gender and national origin discrimination.
Ukrainian activists and officials framed the Covent Garden engagement as part of a broader question about whether cultural platforms can be separated from politics in times of war. "Will we allow Putin to use art as a curtain to hide his crimes?" Zaluzhnyi asked in his piece. Olena Ivashchenko, chief executive of Campaign for Ukraine, said it was especially painful that the invitation came "at the very same time as Russia bombs the British Council" in Kyiv. Natalia Ravlyuk, head of Support Ukraine, said the decision felt like a betrayal of British leadership that had supported Kyiv in the early months of the war.
Some critics have urged the UK government to intervene. Government ministers have declined to do so, saying programming decisions by independent cultural organisations are not a matter for ministers. The Royal Opera House receives public funding through Arts Council England and the National Lottery but operates with editorial independence.
Former UK defence attaché John Foreman, who has served in Moscow and Kyiv, said the decision risked undermining the principles the UK advanced in supporting Ukraine. Others in the arts sector have argued that cultural institutions must balance artistic freedom and engagement with moral responsibility, a debate that has intensified across Europe since 2022.
The invited performance is due to take place on Thursday in the Royal Opera House’s main auditorium. Organisers of planned protests said they would demonstrate outside the theatre that evening. Zaluzhnyi’s intervention marks a rare public campaigning move by a serving ambassador whose previous wartime role earned him wide recognition in Ukraine and abroad. In his op-ed, he said he was not calling for a ban but for "memory and honesty" from audiences and institutions that program artists with politically charged pasts.
The dispute at Covent Garden follows other recent flashpoints in cultural diplomacy related to the war in Ukraine, underscoring ongoing tensions over how performing arts organisations engage with artists who have ties to states accused of aggression. The Royal Opera House and its supporters say programming choices are guided by artistic criteria and the theatre’s purpose; critics say historic associations and public gestures must be weighed against the impact on those affected by conflict. The performance and the planned protests will test how the debate plays out in London’s prominent cultural venues in the months ahead.