Themoscowtimes | Monday, Janaury 26, 2026 
Despite Sanctions and Boycotts, Some Western Musicians Return to the Stage in Russia

In the weeks after launching the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, President Vladimir Putin claimed that the West was trying to “cancel” Russia. Nearly four years later, a small but growing number of Western musicians including Tyga, Gucci Mane and Jason Derulo are returning to the stage in Russia despite continued sanctions and widespread cultural boycotts. While these acts are hardly on the A-list, their return signals that some Western artists are willing to risk backlash by entertaining fans in a country that invaded its neighbor — and that Russia has figured out a way to draw them in, analysts and music critics told The Moscow Times. Before the pandemic and the war, it was not uncommon to see some of the biggest acts in the world performing in Russia, with artists like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lana Del Rey, System of a Down, Muse and Thirty Seconds to Mars playing to packed arenas across the country. But apart from a brief visit by Kanye West, big-name Western acts were largely absent from Russia from February 2022 through the end of 2024. Audiences instead had to settle for pro-Putin actor Steven Seagal’s blues band and former Deep Purple frontman Joe Lynn Turner’s solo act. – B-list acts test the waters – That started to change in 2025. U.S. rapper DaBaby arrived in Moscow in February 2025 for his first performance in Russia, a concert he had reportedly been planning since 2022. He was greeted at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport by…Read more