(Credit: tim osipov)

Artistic Director of Staatstheater Wiesbaden Uwe Eric Laufenberg is standing by his decision to contract Anna Netrebko.

In a recent interview with ZEIT ONLINE, the Staatstheater Wiesbaden boss reiterated that he believed that Netrebko’s statements condemning the war were enough.

Laufenberg refers to Netrebko’s statement at the end of March where she said  “I expressly condemn the war on Ukraine and my thoughts are with the victims of this war and their families. My position is clear. I am not a member of any political party nor am I allied with any leader of Russia.”

She also went on to distance herself from Putin and later in a June interview with Die Zeit, the soprano said, “Of course I’m against this terrible violence.”

In the interview with ZEIT, Laufenberg also added that “Netrebko will stay in the West and not disappear to the East, like the conductor Valery Gergiev, for example – she’s made her decision, and that’s the end of the matter.”

The director also added that the contract for “Nabucco” was made before the Russian invasion.

The statements come after the Ukrainian Consul said that Ukrainians would not perform at the Festival as Netrebko was on the Ukrainian sanctions and therefore would be prohibited from interacting with the soprano. It also comes as the state and city have called the decision “insensitive.”