US rapper and fashion designer Kanye West cannot hold shows in Russia due to his glorification of Nazism, the Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, has said.

A Russian concert agency announced in August that West, also known as Ye, will perform at the 68,000-seat Gazprom Arena in St. Petersburg on October 10 and 11. However, there have been doubts about the shows taking place, with the city’s authorities saying later that no one addressed them for the permission to stage them. On Wednesday, the organizers said the concerts have been canceled.

During her interview with the social media channel Soloviev LIVE TV on Thursday, Zakharova said that holding West’s concerts in Russia was unacceptable.

“He sang songs about [Nazi German dictator Adolf] Hitler and sold merchandise... from his company and under his own name featuring the swastika and other coded symbols linked to Nazism... He performed the Nazi salute. In other words, it was an absolutely clear message; not just a one-off incident, but a distinct statement,” she recalled.

The rapper was not just seeking to rehabilitate Nazism, he was glorifying it, the spokeswoman added.

“How can he possibly perform in our country?” Zakharova asked rhetorically. Especially in St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad), where more than a million people died during the 872-day siege by the Nazis between September 8, 1941 and January 27, 1944, she added.

West’s concert would also be impossible in Moscow or any other city because of “our principled stance of rejecting Nazism, Hitlerism, fascism and things like that,” the spokeswoman noted.

The USSR played the key role in defeating Nazi Germany during the Second World War; around 27 million Soviet citizens lost their lives in the conflict referred to in the country as the Great Patriot War. The National Socialist ideology and its symbols are outlawed in Russia.

West has faced a string of cancellations and bans in several European countries over his anti-Semitic statements and praise of Hitler and Nazism. He has since apologized for some of his remarks, attributing them to bipolar disorder as well as “poor judgment and reckless behavior.”

The musician also spoke favorably about Russia on a number of occasions, expressed desire to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and even went as far as describing himself as “young Putin” in a 2021 podcast.

He has visited Moscow just once – in June 2024, but didn’t give any shows. The rapper attended the birthday of Russian designer Gosha Rubchinsky, with whom he had previously collaborated. Rubchinsky left West’s Yeezy fashion brand in 2025 shortly after he published his controversial messages on social media.