Royal Ballet and Opera urged to drop Russian soprano with links to Putin

More than 50 Ukrainian writers and artists, a cross-party group of UK MPs and a former New Zealand prime minister have urged the Royal Ballet and Opera to drop the Russian opera singer Anna Netrebko from its new London season.

- Luke Harding

Netrebko is due to perform in the RBO's production of Tosca next month. In a letter to the Guardian, the signatories describe her as a "long-time symbol of cultural propaganda for a regime that is responsible for serious war crimes".

They suggest the RBO has put itself on the wrong side of history by inviting Netrebko to perform in title roles at a time when Russia has escalated its attacks "on peaceful Ukrainian cities and civilians.

"The Royal Opera now faces a defining choice: between status and responsibility, between profit and values, between silence and conscience. We urge you to remain, as you consistently have, on the ethical side of art - and of history," the letter adds.

Signatories include the Ukrainian novelists Andriy Kurkov and Serhiy Zhadan, the Oscar-winning filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov and the chef and author Olia Hercules. The former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark has also backed the letter along with a group of MPs, and the French intellectual Bernard-Henri Lévy.

The Royal Opera House and Netrebko declined to comment. Earlier this month the RBO pulled its production of Tosca at the Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv after almost 200 Royal Opera and Ballet members signed an open letter criticising the organisation's stance on Gaza.