A former Royal Ballet star from Ukraine who became a cheerleader for Vladimir Putin has decided to leave Russia with his family.
Principal male dancer Sergei Polunin, 35, became the Royal Ballet’s youngest ever principal at the age of 20 before abruptly leaving two years later.
He has received numerous international awards for his dancing, and has performed at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow and at La Scala in Milan.
Though born in southern Ukraine, Polunin has been a vocal supporter of Putin, and even sports three tattoos on his body bearing the Kremlin chief’s face.
But now, Polunin has turned to Instagram to announce that he is leaving Russia with his family for good.
‘Thank you for everything Russia has done for me. But the time comes and my soul feels out of place’, the dancer wrote on the social platform.
‘My time in Russia has long since expired as if I have now fulfilled my mission here.
‘Russia has been my home for many years, and I have received great help. It helped me create many fantastic performances.
A former Royal Ballet star from Ukraine who became a cheerleader for Vladimir Putin has decided to leave Russia with his family
Photo shows Ukrainian ballet dancer Sergei Polunin, 35, with his family
Polunin pictured dancing for the Royal Ballet in London in 2010
‘It gave me everything I needed and even more.
‘Thank you to the audience for your support, thank you to everyone who worked with me and helped me.
‘And most importantly, I met Elena and we got married in Russia and our youngest son Era was born here.’
‘Russia has very kind, very humane people’, the dancer went on.
‘Where we will go is still unclear and I only hope that my soul is calm and in its place.
‘Treat each other with love. People deserve to be loved.
‘Sorry for what I could or couldn’t do, but I’ll still be useful. But now I still have a long way to go, another unknown path.’
Polunin had become a lynch-pin for Putin’s claim that Ukrainians supported his invasion.
Sergei Polunin as Grigori Rasputin in Yuka Oishi’s Rasputin music by Kirill Richter, set design by Otto Bubenicek, costume by Ulayana Sergeenko and lighting by Konstantin Binkin at The London Palladium on May 31, 2019 in London, England
Polunin had become a key supporter for the Russian invasion of Ukraine
After leaving London in 2012 he became a principal dancer at both the Stanislavsky Music Theatre in Moscow and the Novosibirsk State Academic Opera and Ballet.
Then he was appointed director of the Sevastopol Opera and Ballet Theatre in annexed Crimea in 2019.
He became a key supporter of Putin;s invasion of Ukraine and raised funds to support Russian troops and gave Putin his full backing in this year’s presidential election.
In recognition of his contributions, Polunin was granted Russian citizenship and renounced his Ukrainian roots.
But some say his baffling turnaround has been triggered by a series of sinister packages sent to him at his family home which, he feared, would one day contain a bomb.
The scooter bombing of senior Russian general Igor Kirillov by Ukrainian agents right in the heart of Moscow, some believe, heightened the dad-of-two dancer’s fears.
His statement comes days after the Russian government appointed a new director general of the Sevastopol State Opera and Ballet Theatre in Russian-annexed Crimea, a post which Polunin used to occupy.