Russia names pianist Evgeny Kissin as 'foreign agent'

[July 20, 2024]  (Reuters) - Russia has designated pianist Evgeny Kissin as a "foreign agent" because of his support for Ukraine and opposition to the war, state news agency TASS quoted the justice ministry as saying on Friday. 

Moscow-born Kissin, 52, has won some of Russia's top artistic awards and is considered one of the world's finest concert pianists. He has lived outside the country for years and has British and Israeli citizenship.

Kissin has spoken out frequently against Russian President Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine. Last month he posted on Facebook: "I am convinced that in spite of all the horrors the Russian invaders are inflicting on Ukraine and its poor people, this wonderful country will survive, we shall all outlive Putin and his cronies."

Russia has applied the "foreign agent" label, which has connotations of spying, to hundreds of individuals and organisations it accuses of conducting subversive political activity with foreign backing.

Best-selling author Boris Akunin and rock musician Boris Grebenshchikov are among other well-known artists now living outside Russia who have been added to the list.

In a landmark case earlier this month, theatre director Zhenya Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk were sentenced to six years each in prison for "justifying terrorism" in a play about Russian women who married Islamic State fighters.

(Reporting by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Susan Fenton)

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