One MP has threatened to lobby for the cancellation of Ye’s concerts in St Petersburg unless the rapper publicly supports Russia, while an Orthodox vigilante movement says it will review his repertoire before deciding whether to oppose the shows.
Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, is due to perform in St Petersburg’s Gazprom Arena on 10 and 11 October, making him one of the biggest international music stars to schedule a Russian appearance since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in 2022.
Demand has been far from shy. Tickets started at 9,000 rubles ($106) and go up to 160,000 rubles ($1,885) for the priciest seats, with the cheapest category selling out in an hour, state news agency TASS said. The stadium can accommodate about 70,000.
The political reception has been far less enthusiastic.
State Duma member Nikolai Novichkov, of the Just Russia party, said foreign performers who want to make money in Russia should show their «moral support» for the country and for what Moscow calls its «special military operation» in Ukraine. «If Ye doesn’t, I will raise the issue of cancelling the concerts,» he argued.
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Novichkov also wants Ye’s previous statements praising Adolf Hitler investigated under Russian laws on Nazism and said he may contact the Culture Ministry and Prosecutor General’s Office on the matter.
Right-wing activists
A conservative Orthodox vigilante group, the Sorok Sorokov (Forty Forties in English), which has previously campaigned against Ye’s music, said it will try to find out which songs he plans to perform and whether any controversial material has been taken out.
«Perhaps he has changed his behaviour and decided to perform only positive songs,» group representative Georgy Soldatov told the Telegram channel Ostorozhno Novosti. After reviewing the programme the movement intends to determine its position.
When the first rumours of a Ye concert in Russia surfaced in 2024, the Sorok Sorokov asked the Interior Ministry and the FSB to look into his work for alleged extremism, drug promotion and «discrediting» the Russian military.
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The row was about Vultures, a collaborative Ye and Ty Dolla $ign track which contains references to drugs, a Russian woman and Ukraine. The line that particularly enraged the activists is delivered by Ty Dolla $ign, not Ye himself.
Russia is not Ye’s first concert controversy this year
The Russian rebuke comes after a rocky year for Ye’s touring plans in other regions.
Earlier this year Britain banned him from entering the country and planned performances in Poland and Switzerland were cancelled amid the backlash over his antisemitic remarks and previous praise for Hitler. Italy also refused, for reasons of security and public order, to permit planned shows.
Ye nevertheless drew 118,000 people to a concert in Istanbul in May. He apologised in January for his previous remarks, attributing his behaviour to an undiagnosed brain injury and untreated bipolar disorder and renouncing his earlier praise of Hitler.
