Georgian Chamber of Culture cancels play starring pro-Kremlin actor

The Georgian Chamber of Culture has cancelled a theatre performance starring pro-Kremlin actor Sergei Bezrukov after he publicly supported Russia’s position on Ukraine. The decision to cancel the performance in Tbilisi this May comes days after an open letter was signed by several prominent Russian cultural figures, including Bezrukov, stating their support for President Vladimir Putin’s position on the crisis in Ukraine.

Bezrukov, a well-known Russian film and theatre actor, performed in Tbilisi in September 2012 in a play directed by the artistic director of Moscow Theatre, Oleg Tabakov, who is known for his vocal support of the Russian government. The open letter published earlier this week, in which signatories reiterated “support of the position of the president of the Russian Federation in Ukraine and Crimea”, has been censured by the Georgian parliament.

David Okitashvil, president of the Georgian Chamber of Culture, said: “I will never bring an actor into Georgia who takes an anti-democratic stance in regard to our country in any form. It is the same as supporting the occupation in the Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions.”