The Russian-Lithuanian pop singer Kristina Orbakaitė, a daughter of the Russian pop star Alla Pugacheva, is planning a concert in Vilnius next month. The resulting public controversy has drawn comments from the country’s prime minister.
Orbakaitė’s concert at Pramogų Arena in Vilnius is scheduled for May 31. BNS was unable to reach Show Life, the concert’s organiser, for comment. The arena’s representatives refused to comment when asked about Orbakaitė’s concert and hung up the phone.
Public outrage over the planned performance by the singer, who holds both Lithuanian and Russian passports, erupted on social media this week.
Critics say that Orbakaitė has not publicly condemned Russia’s war in Ukraine, performed in occupied Crimea in the autumn of 2022, and in March 2023 gave away 50 tickets to her St Petersburg concert to Russian soldiers’ families.
Even Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas was asked about the controversy on Tuesday.
“I saw a photo online, a very old photo, where Orbakaitė is accepting some award from Mr [Vladimir] Putin. If we look at a 20-year period, there are many people who had some kind of connection. But their current position on the war in Ukraine is what apparently matters more now,” he told reporters.
“The organisers of the concert have the opportunity to ask that question and provide the answer to the public,” he added.
Orbakaitė was born in Moscow but spent part of her childhood in Lithuania. She later moved to Russia, where she rose to fame as a singer and actress.
Orbakaitė requested and was granted Lithuanian citizenship as the granddaughter of Lithuanian citizens in February 2002.
She currently resides in the US.
Orbakaitė’s mother, the famous pop singer Alla Pugacheva, left Russia for Israel in March 2022, soon after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. She has publicly condemned the war and has been declared a “foreign agent” by the Russian authorities.
Culture ministry says it cannot ban events
Lithuania’s Culture Ministry says it has no authority to ban or investigate the planned event.
The ministry said, however, it had drawn the organisers’ attention to the situation.
“Although the performer and her stance is controversial in the eyes of the public, and concerts by performers who support aggressors are not acceptable from the point of view of values, the Culture Ministry does not have the authority to prohibit, evaluate or investigate the legality of private persons’ activities, that of private organisers and participants of their events in this case. Other institutions have such powers,” the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
It also noted that, according to Lithuanian laws, the organisers are responsible for any negative consequences and threats posed by such events.
While Lithuania has introduced some restrictions on Russian nationals due to the Ukraine war, the ministry said, Orbakaitė is a Lithuanian citizen and therefore cannot be banned from entering the country.
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