Italian singer cancels concerts in Crimea

Concerts of the Italian opera and pop singer Alessandro Safina, scheduled for 21 and 23 February in Sevastopol and Simferopol, have been cancelled. The statement was released on his official Facebook account.

He noted that in recent years the Ukrainian authorities sanctioned a restriction, according to which anyone who enters the Crimea region will be considered undesirable in Ukraine. "So it was my duty to bring this matter to the attention of the promoter from Crimea, proposing my commitment to reschedule these two concerts as soon as the conflicts are resolved, wishing, moreover, that this would happen as quickly as possible," RIA Novosti cited him as saying.

"Unfortunately, the promoter from Crimea was not at all understanding and did not want to take my proposal into consideration, and even went as far as to threaten me with controversies and retaliation. At this point, after this person’s unreasonable and selfish behavior, because of which I was so seriously compromised through acts of misinformation and threats of controversy, made purely with great malice trying to give this sequence of events political undertones, I decided to cut all ties with her from now on and to cancel these two concerts for good," Alessandro Safina's statement says.

"Moreover, up until now this promoter had neither signed any contract for the two concerts nor sent an advance payment guarantee, even though I have persistently asked for them for months through my management. This situation has also had me thinking and made me evaluate the seriousness of this promoter," he explained, adding that he is an artist who has always stayed away from any political interference, respecting the sensitivities of people.