Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has granted Russian conductor Mikhail Arkadyev with Georgian citizenship, News Georgia reports.
The passport for Arkadyev was given after a concert at the Tbilisi State Conservatory of Vano Sarajishvili. Arkadyev presented his book published in the 1990s to the conservatory and a music CD for Saakashvili.
Mikheil Saakashvili noted that, despite diplomatic complications between Russia and Georgia, cultural ties remain. Unions of architects, composers and other cultural organizations joined the All-Russian People's Front in June, without warning their members. Some artists, including Arkadyev, expressed condemnation for joining the front without a warning.
The art director of the Vladivostok Pacific Orchestra did not prolong the contract with Arkadyev for refusing to join the front, the conductor said.
