The Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow has witnessed performances by some of the world’s greatest ballet dancers, from Vaslav Nijinsky to Galina Ulanova — legendary names whose fame lives on decades after they last graced its stage.
More recently, it has hosted less illustrious performers. The Bolshoi was the setting for the debut appearance in a main role by Maria Shuvalova, a 27-year-old ballerina who also happens to be the daughter of Igor Shuvalov, a former top Russian government official who now heads the Kremlin-backed VEB bank. He has been described by Sir Keir Starmer as one of the “cronies who prop up [President Putin’s] regime”.
Maria Shuvalova with her father Igor Shuvalov, a Putin ally
SOBESIDNIK
Many critics were unimpressed with Shuvalova, with some suggesting that she had only been picked for the prestigious part in
