More than 15,000 letters of support were sent to Lia Akhedzhakova

Actress Liya Akhedzhakova received more than 15,000 letters with words of support, director Kirill Serebrennikov said in his Telegram channel, and three weeks ago he invited everyone who wanted to write them. According to Serebrennikov, the letters were printed and handed over to Akhedzhakova, “she is completely happy and thanks everyone.”

On February 8, it became known that the management of the Moscow theater “Sovremennyk”, where Lia Akhedzhakova worked since 1977, removed from the repertoire the last production with her participation – the play “The Gin Game”. According to the actress, who repeatedly publicly criticized Vladimir Putin and spoke in support of Ukraine, the director of the theater mentioned in a conversation with her that he was “literally bombarded with angry letters addressed to her.” Officially, in the theater, the reason for the cancellation of the performance was called Akhedzhakova’s poor health. The actress did not confirm this, saying that she “really wanted to play”.

Prior to that, “Sovremennyk” filmed the second performance with Akhedzhakova – “First bread”. “Officers of Russia” complained about him because of the actress’s monologue, which allegedly insults veterans.

At the end of 2022, in St. Petersburg, the performance “My Grandson Veniamin”, in which Akhedzhakova also played, was postponed to an undetermined date. The reason was not named, but it was then that the actress was criticized a lot and harshly in pro-Kremlin Telegram channels.

• After a full-scale military invasion of the territory of Ukraine, the Russian authorities began to persecute, including cultural figures, who opposed the war. Hundreds of directors, actors, musicians and artists faced the impossibility of engaging in professional activities in Russia and were forced to leave the country. Due to their anti-war stance, some of them – such as the leader of the rock group “DDT” Yury Shevchuk and the actor Artur Smolyaninov – were instituted administrative cases of discrediting the actions of the Russian army.