Prominent pro-Putin ballet star Sergei Polunin says he’s leaving Russia

Moscow — Former Royal Ballet star Sergei Polunin, well-known for his tattoos of Russian President Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday introduced that he plans to depart Russia. The Ukrainian-Russian dancer was one of the distinguished stars who backed Russia’s unilateral 2014 annexation of Crimea and its army assault on Ukraine. He was rewarded with prestigious state posts.

In a rambling, misspelled message on his Instagram account, Polunin wrote: “My time in Russia ran out a very long time in the past, it appears at this second that I’ve fulfilled my mission right here.”

The publish first appeared Sunday on his little-read Telegram account.

Polunin, 35, didn’t give a selected motive for leaving, however mentioned: “Thanks for every part that Russia has achieved for me. The time comes and the soul feels that it’s not the place it must be.”  

He mentioned he was leaving along with his household — his spouse Yelena and three kids — however “the place we are going to go will not be clear to date.”

In the summertime, the dancer complained of an absence of safety and mentioned he was being adopted.

Polunin, who was born in Ukraine, backed Putin’s 2014 annexation of Crimea  — a prelude to the continued, full-scale invasion of Ukraine that Putin launched in February 2022.

The dancer was granted Russian citizenship in 2019. He was appointed appearing head of a dance academy in occupied Crimea’s greatest metropolis, Sevastopol, and director of town’s opera and ballet theatre, for which a big new constructing is beneath building.

Simply final yr he was embellished by Putin for his position in popularizing dance. However in August he was changed as head of the dance academy by former Bolshoi prima Maria Alexandrova, and per week in the past, Russia’s arts minister Olga Lyubimova introduced his theater director job would go to singer Ildar Abdrazakov.

This got here after, on December 9, Polunin printed a social media post saying he was “very sorry for folks” dwelling within the closely bombarded village close to Ukraine’s metropolis of Kherson, “the place a technology of Polunins grew up and my Russian grandfather constructed a small home along with his personal fingers.”

He urged Putin to barter to finish the conflict in Ukraine, saying even “the worst deal can be higher than conflict.”

“I hope for Humanity of the president of Russia and if there’s a chance to have a traditional skilled dialog with Trump,” Polunin wrote on the time. “It’s higher to point out willpower and good nature your self and begin negotiations.”

Aged 13, Polunin gained a scholarship to coach on the Royal Ballet College in London and have become its youngest ever principal dancer.

Together with his tattoos — together with a big depiction of Putin’s face emblazoned prominently on his chest — and his rebellious angle, he grew to become often called the “unhealthy boy of ballet” and precipitated a sensation by resigning from the Royal Ballet on the peak of his fame in 2012.

Later he made a 2015 hit video to Irish musician Hozier’s track “Take Me to Church” and was the star of a 2016 documentary referred to as “Dancer.”

He moved to carry out at Moscow’s Stanislavsky Musical Theatre’s ballet earlier than launching a solo profession, starring in dance performances in roles together with the mystic Grigory Rasputin.

In 2019 he posed for AFP with a big tattoo of Putin on his chest which he later supplemented with two Putin faces on both shoulder. He additionally has a big Ukrainian trident on his proper hand.

This yr he took half in Putin’s marketing campaign for reelection as a star backer.