Kanye West is in Moscow to help celebrate the birthday of Russian designer Gosha Rubchinskiy, the creative director of his Yeezy brand.
Rubchinskiy is also involved in Kanye’s music career—he helped design the artwork for Vultures, the rapper’s joint album with Ty Dolla $ign.
According to reports, Kanye is also in Russia’s capital preparing for a show and a meeting with President Vladimir Putin amid geopolitical tension, unfazed by the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.
Russian influencer Yana Rudkovskaya shared the news on her Telegram channel.
“Kanye West is already in Moscow! This is super news! He stopped in the very heart of the capital! Fingers crossed on the Luzhniki show! I’ll bet if it takes place 80,000 [tickets] will be sold out in three days. Ok. A week at most,” she wrote.
Representatives of the venue have stated that they have no information on any such upcoming performance.
Meanwhile, media reports are abuzz with the possibility of a meeting between West and Putin.
This potential meeting is particularly intriguing as the Russian President has expressed mixed feelings about the influence of Hip-Hop.
In 2018, Putin acknowledged the genre’s burgeoning popularity in Russia but advised caution.
“This is part of culture, this is part of our common culture, so it needs to be treated with great caution,” Putin said during a session with the Presidential Council for Culture and Art in St. Petersburg.
He added, “If it is impossible to stop, then it is necessary to navigate and guide accordingly.”
West’s willingness to perform in Russia contrasts sharply with the hesitance of many Western artists to visit the country due to its ongoing military actions in Ukraine.
