Moscow:
Sergei Polunin, the former Royal Ballet star famous for his tattoo of Russian President Vladimir Putin, announced on Wednesday his plans to leave Russia.
The Ukrainian-Russian dancer was one of the most prominent stars supporting Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and military offensive against Ukraine. He was given a prestigious national post.
“My time in Russia ran out a long time ago. At this moment, I seem to have fulfilled my mission here,” Polunin wrote in a rambling, misspelled message on his Instagram account. .
The post first appeared on his little-read Telegram account on Sunday.
Polunin, 35, did not give a specific reason for leaving, but said: “There comes a time when you feel that your soul is not where it should be.”
He plans to leave with his wife, Elena, and their three children, but said, “It is not clear at this point where we are going.”
In the summer, dancers complained of inadequate security and said they were being followed.
Polunin, who was born in Ukraine, supported President Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and became a Russian citizen in 2019.
He was appointed acting principal of the Dance Academy in Sevastopol, Crimea, and director of the city’s Opera and Ballet Theater, where a large new building was under construction.
Last year, he was awarded a medal by President Putin for his contribution to popularizing dance.
“The bad boy of the ballet world”
However, in August, former Bolshoi Prima Maria Alexandrova took over the directorship of the dance academy, and a week ago, Russian Minister of Arts Olga Lyubimova replaced her theater directorship with singer Ildar Abdrazakov. announced that it would be transferred to Mr.
The comments come after Polunin posted on social media on December 9, saying he was “very sorry” to the people living in heavily bombed villages near the Ukrainian city of Kherson, where his family is from. A deal would be better than a war.” ”.
At 13, Polunin won a scholarship to train at the Royal Ballet School in London, becoming the youngest principal dancer in history.
He became known as the “bad boy of ballet” for his tattoos and rebellious attitude, and caused a sensation by quitting the Royal Ballet in 2012 at the height of his fame.
In 2015, he created a hit video set to Irish musician Hozier’s song “Take Me to Church,” and in 2016 he starred in a documentary called “Dancer.”
He began appearing in the ballet company of the Stanislavsky Music Theater in Moscow, and then began a solo career, starring in dance performances in roles such as the mysterious Grigory Rasputin.
In 2019, he posed for AFP with a large tattoo of Putin on his chest, and later added two of Putin’s faces on each shoulder. He also carries a large Ukrainian trident in his right hand.
This year, he joined Putin’s re-election campaign as a celebrity patron.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
