Kremlin rules out meeting between Ye and Vladimir Putin

Rapper Ye, better known as Kanye West, may be heading to Russia later this fall, but the Kremlin says arranging a meeting with President Vladimir Putin falls outside its scope of business.

Asked on Thursday whether Putin could meet the controversial American entertainer during his upcoming tour visit, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov swiftly shot down the suggestion.

“This isn’t our topic. This isn’t Mosconcert — this is the presidential administration,” Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

Ye is due to play two shows at St. Petersburg’s 70,000-capacity Gazprom Arena on Oct. 10 and Oct. 11, making him one of the biggest Western music stars to perform in Russia since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Tickets, priced from 9,000 to 160,000 rubles (€92 to €1,642), sold out within hours.

The rapper’s European tour has had a rockier run. Britain barred him from entering the country in April, prompting the cancellation of London’s Wireless Festival, and a Slovak festival featuring him was scrapped in July. Shows in France, Poland, Italy and the Czech Republic were also called off.

The backlash follows years of antisemitic and pro-Nazi remarks by Ye, who has praised Adolf Hitler, released a song titled “Heil Hitler” and sold swastika-branded merchandise.

Not everyone in Russia is sold either.

Earlier this week, conservative lawmaker Vitaly Milonov suggested Ye perform traditional Russian songs during his visit, adding that perhaps afterward he would stop his “disgusting antics” and become “a normal person.”

The Kremlin, for its part, has long claimed that extinguishing allegedly rampant Nazism in Kyiv is a cornerstone of its war on Ukraine.