- ROME, FEB 24 - Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala on Thursday said conductor Valery Gergiev, a supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, must condemn the attack on Ukraine if he wants to continue his collaboration with Teatro alla Scala, where he is currently directing Tchaikovsky's Pique Dame.
    "We have at the Scala (theater) 'Pique Dame' directed by Maestro Valery Gergiev who has repeatedly declared that he is close to Putin", Sala said. "We have been asking him, with the theater's superintendent, to take a clear position against this invasion and, if he will not do it, we will be forced to end this collaboration", said the mayor, commenting the latest events in Ukraine during a debate with the former center-right mayoral candidate in Milan and municipal councilor, Luca Bernardo.
    "We must intervene when faced with these situations", he concluded.