As the fate of Kanye West’s show expected to take place in St. Petersburg remains unclear, Maria Zaharova, the official representative of Russia’s Foreign Ministry, likened the event to the séance described in the “Black Magic and Its Exposure” chapter of Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel The Master and Margarita.
Responding to a question about the situation surrounding West’s St. Petersburg concert on a program on Sputnik radio, Zaharova said she had reread the relevant chapter of the novel. The diplomat said the scene at the Variety Theater reminded her of “incomprehensible organizers staging an incomprehensible séance and then having it exposed.”

Conflicting statements about the concert
It had been announced that West would give two concerts at Gazprom Arena on October 10 and 11. However, the venue’s management said no contract had been signed for renting the stadium.

St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov said on September 25 that he had received no application for the concert and did not know whether the show would take place. Journalist Dmitry Kiselyov said in September that the concert would not be held in St. Petersburg.
Zaharova’s previous comments about West
In a statement on September 27, Zaharova said West had released a music video on May 8, 2025, on the eve of the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany, featuring the phrase “victory to Hitler” in its chorus. She said the video also used an audio recording of one of Hitler’s speeches from the 1930s.

The diplomat described the video as “madness” released in the 21st century on the anniversary of the victory. Zaharova also argued that West had apologized to Jews for his support for Nazism but had not apologized to Russians, Belarusians or other peoples living in Russia.