Under the circumstances of the Russian large-scale military aggression against Ukraine, everything possible is being done in order to maintain the image of Ukrainian culture and prevent any attempts to discredit Ukrainian official institutions. Therefore, we would like to state the following:
At the moment there is information spreading in the media concerning the tours of ballet companies, pretending to be Ukrainian, and using names of world-known theatre brands (The Odessa National Opera and Ballet Theatre, in particular) in their own productions. Thus, there have been advertisements of “The Ukrainian National Ballet of Odessa” (ukrainiannationalballet.com) presenting the P. I. Tchaikovsky ballets in Ireland (shows organised by Art One Presents) and France (shows organised by A. A. Organization).
We officially state that “The Ukrainian National Ballet of Odessa” ballet company, whose management is using the likeness of the brand name, video footage from our productions and false information in the advertisements, thus misleading the audience and discrediting the honest name of the Odessa opera, is in no way associated with the Odessa National Opera.
The management of “The Ukrainian National Ballet of Odessa” has not properly responded to the repeated requests to terminate their illegal and anti-Ukrainian activities, despite the call of the artistic community to boycott the repertoire of Russian composers, refuses to remove the ballets which in the whole world are associated with the culture of the aggressor.
As a result of the request of the Odessa National Opera management, for the sake of final clarification of the situation and requesting help from the international society for the prevention of fraudulent activities of “The Ukrainian National Ballet of Odessa” the ambassador of Ukraine to France Mr Vadym Omelchenko addressed the Minister of Culture of France Ms Rima Abdul Malak: “Under the circumstances of the large-scale war that Russia is waging in Ukraine, Russian-Ukrainian artistic cooperation is not possible. Such cooperation tolerated by “The Ukrainian National Ballet of Odessa” benefits Russian anti-Ukrainian propaganda and distracts attention from the struggle of the Ukrainian people for their independence and identity, and furthermore, from the crimes against Ukrainians that Russia is currently committing. We are grateful to our French friends for the opportunity to present Ukrainian culture. Therefore, we ask you, dear Ms Minister, to take all measures to prevent the performances of “The Ukrainian National Ballet of Odessa” company in the cities of France, so as not to discredit the name of the State of Ukraine and not to confuse real Ukrainian culture with Russian propaganda.”
The management and the whole team of the Odessa National Opera condemn the activities of culture and art representatives who are in any way associated with Russian culture and discredit official Ukrainian institutions. We hope for efficient support from the domestic and international community and expect the anti-Ukrainian activities of “The Ukrainian National Ballet of Odessa” to stop as soon as possible.