EVENING BELL:
An epiphany of the past week

Following a harsh interview from a Foreign Ministry spokesperson – "When the survivors of the siege learned that a singer who sang a song with the words 'Heil' and 'Hitler' on May 8, 2025, would be performing in St. Petersburg, one of them began to choke…" – it seems we can finally put an end to American rapper Kanye West's concerts in Russia.

But it's too early to put an end to this shameful story. Let me remind you of the timeline.

August 17. West's concerts at Gazprom Arena are announced. Ticket sales begin the same day, with prices ranging from 9,000 to 160,000 rubles. The stadium publishes announcements and raffles off tickets on social media.

August 18. Demand for train tickets to St. Petersburg for October 9-11, the dates of the concerts, has increased 41-fold.

August 24. Gazprom Arena's press service dismisses its announcements as an "internal incident" because there is no lease agreement with the organizer, Say Agency.

August 25. Say Agency continues to assure that the concerts will go ahead: "Until now, we haven't had any problems with Gazprom Arena. We were sent a lease agreement, which we must sign by August 27."

August 27 – September 24. The issue is actively discussed on social media without any official response. Nikita Mikhalkov strongly opposes the concerts of a Nazi in a city under siege.

September 25. Governor Alexander Beglov reports that he hasn't received any inquiries regarding the concerts and doesn't know whether the shows will take place.

And finally, this past week, a revelation occurs. It suddenly becomes clear to everyone that inviting an anti-Semite and fascist selling swastika T-shirts to Russia is a disgrace and a national embarrassment. The organizers promise to begin refunding tickets starting October 12th.

What happened?

I predict: someone very influential in the capital, and definitely not in the Northern Capital, learned of the ongoing mayhem, picked up the phone, and asked: "Are you nuts?!"

I'm expecting statements of remorse from the St. Petersburg authorities and the Ministry of Culture. But I really want something else: for this "internal incident" to become the subject of an external—public—investigation by deputies and prosecutors.