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President Putin visits formerly dissident theater
December 29, 2001
AFP
Russian President Vladimir Putin joined the audience at Moscow's formerly dissident Taganka theater to watch a play devoted to Russia's beloved poet Vladimir Vysotsky.
According to the theater's director, Yuri Lyubimov, the ex-KGB colonel "simply decided to come and watch the play," which the KGB frowned upon in Soviet times.
Lyubimov, himself a model dissident, denied being surprised by Putin's attendance, saying "it was (Putin's) generation that had listened to Vysotsky and knew his songs," the ITAR-TASS news agency reported.
Putin is the first Soviet or Russian ruler to visit the theater, Lyubimov said, adding that the troupe did not receive any special instructions for the performance.
"In Soviet times, Politburo members sometimes came to us, and the theater's fate depended on their visits," Lyubimov recalled, adding his relief that those days were over.
Vysotsky, dubbed "Russia's Bob Dylan" was himself a prominent actor at the Taganka theater. He died of a heart attack in 1980 at the age of 42, amid allegations that his death was contrived by the KGB.
Vysotsky was extremely popular in the former Soviet bloc, and after his death several hundred thousand people accompanied his coffin in an improvised rally at his funeral.
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