Revaluation and Appropriation Russia: Art Music in the Service of the State

The Putin regime presents its war of aggression against Ukraine as a war of defence. Its aim is to liberate Ukraine from "Nazism" and confront the hostile "collective West". To legitimize the war and strengthen society's fighting spirit, the regime has appropriated Dmitrii Shostakovich's most famous symphonies, the 7th ("Leningrad") and the 13th ("Babi Yar"). Sergei Rachmaninoff is stylized as a hero of Great Russian patriotism, while conductors close to the regime use concerts and competitions to simulate cultural normality and perform Russian works to turn music into a ringing weapon of propaganda.