In March 2026, the performance of violinist Vadim Repin in Palm Beach, Florida was canceled following advocacy from International Movement Arts Against Aggression and the Ukrainian Association of Florida. Right-wing media aggregator RealClearPolitics characterized the incident asCancel Culture Comes to Trumpland.The Repin concert with the Palm Beach Symphony Orchestra was timed to precede a Florida meeting between Russian President Putin’s special envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, where they discussed bilateral economic and diplomatic ties. According to Eleanor Hope, Repin’s general manager, the concert was intended as a "bridge-building effort."
The Kremlin is not even hiding that it sees culture as an instrument of Russian influence. On June 4, during the 2026 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), the same Kirill Dmitriev moderated the panel titled “Cultural Diplomacy and Soft Power: Key Instruments of Global Influence.” Boris Rotenberg, sanctioned oligarch and Putin’s close confidant, also took part in the panel.
On June 15, 2026, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation released a reportHuman Rights Situation in Certain Countries.The report echoes RealClearPolitics by framing the cancellation of Vadim Repin’s performance and the bans in the West on Putin-loyalist artists like Valery Gergiev, Denis Matsuev, Ildar Abdrazakov, and Svetlana Zakharova as “cancel culture".
The report, of course, failed to mention that conductor Gergiev, pianist Matsuev, opera singer Abdrazakov, and Repin’s wife, ballerina Zakharova, are state-backed political actors who served on Putin’s re-election team and have long enjoyed government funding and official state recognition. The only difference between Vadim Repin and the others from this list is that Repin maintains no formal state role and intentionally refrains from making political statements.
The report also complains that “the U.S. government, invoking the principles of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, did not prevent an aggressive segment of the Ukrainian diaspora from organizing provocative actions to boycott events promoting Russian culture.” As an example, the report refers to the picket near St. John the Baptist Cathedral in the U.S. capital during the annual 'Russian Bazaar' festival and to protests near the Russian Cultural Centre in Washington.
All these actions were organized by the Ukrainian Activists of Maryland, the same group now calling on the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra to cancel Repin’s upcoming appearance at Maryland Hall, which is set to take place just days after the midterm elections. Including previous cancellation of Vadim Repin’s concert in a report by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation proves once again that Repin is not an 'apolitical' artist, as the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra claims but rather part of the Russian state propaganda machine.
Despite all these facts, the open letter Arts Against Aggression та petition from the Maryland Ukrainian community that has garnered around 800 signatures, the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra refused to cancel Vadim Repin’s engagement and on August 1 opened ticket sales for his November 6–7 performances.
This situation is further aggravated by the discovery that Repn performance is partially funded by American taxpayers through the Maryland State Arts Council and the Arts Council of Anne Arundel County. Steven Skerritt-Davis, executive director of the Maryland State Arts Council, has stated in his letter that the Council "takes seriously the concerns raised by the International Movement Arts Against Aggression" and “will follow up with the ASO as warranted.” We expect a similar commitment to accountability from the Arts Council of Anne Arundel County, which has yet to respond to our appeal.
Arts Against Aggression calls on the Maryland State Arts Council and the Arts Council of Anne Arundel County to revoke all funding for the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra unless the orchestra ceases platforming Russian cultural propaganda and follows the example of other European and American orchestras that, after receiving complaints, have replaced Putin’s violinist, Vadim Repin, with local talent.
Author: Dmitry Smelansky
