Barred by other European countries, Kanye West turns to Russia for his redemption tour

Apparently the road to redemption runs through … Vladimir Putin’s Russia?

Controversy magnet Kanye West is due to perform two shows in St Petersburg in October, the most high-profile Western artist to play in Russia since Putin invaded Ukraine four and a half years ago.

The Putin-led incursion sparked a wave of trade sanctions by Western democracies, which caused many international companies to pull out of the territory. American streaming platforms no longer operate within Russia, nor are most international films released there.

Western performers are not strictly forbidden from performing in Russia but in order to not run afoul of US and EU sanctions, they have to be paid by or through entities and companies that are not on the sanction list.

The higher risk is a reputational one, but given the throng of scandals that have surrounded West in recent years due to his pro-Nazism and anti-Semitic remarks as well as erratic public behaviour, not observing the spirit of sanctions against Russia falls only somewhere in the middle.

West, who now goes by the mononym Ye, now joins a small cadre of singers that have done business in Putin’s country, joining the ranks of Steven Seagal’s blues band, Tyga, Akon, Lil Pump and Jason Derulo.

These two dates could prove lucrative for West. Within a day of the tickets going on sale, many pricing tiers including the most expensive (upwards of $US1850 each) and the cheapest ($US105) had sold out.

He had gaps to fill after a series of European shows didn’t go ahead earlier this year. The UK government denied him a visa to enter the country because of his history of discriminatory comments. The British government said at the time “his presence in the UK would not be conducive the public good”.

Wireless Festival, for which West was to be the headline act, cancelled the entire venture and issued refunds.

West then indefinitely postponed his concert in Marseilles after the French government said it was “highly determined” to ban West. The Italian and Polish governments also banned him, with the former citing public order and security concerns and the latter calling the decision to book him “unacceptable”.

Gigs in Albania, the Netherlands and Turkey still went ahead.

In that context, it may very well be that West thinks there’s nothing to lose, reputationally, by performing in Russia despite the international movement against Putin’s actions in Ukraine.

Even if he is trying to mount something of a comeback, attempting to straddle the line of being a provocateur and also someone accepted in polite company.

In January, he bought out a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal to apologise for his past behaviour.

He wrote in a letter he titled “To Those I’ve Hurt”, that was “not a Nazi or an anti-Semite” and that “I love Jewish people”. He claimed his scandalous acts were because of an undiagnosed brain injury and untreated bipolar disorder.

“I lost touch with reality,” he wrote.

“I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and am committed to accountability, treatment and meaningful change.”

Of course, West has travelled this road before. In 2023, he apologised to the Jewish community for a series of anti-Semitic acts the previous including the threat that was “going death con 3 on Jewish” and accused them of trying to “black ball anyone who opposes your agenda”.

Not two years later, West had started to sell T-shirts with the swastika symbol in his online store, and also released a song called Heil Hitler, in which he praised the genocidal Nazi leader.

He has also in recent years made racist remarks against Black Americans, calling slavery a “choice” and sporting a “white lives matter” t-shirt.

Last year, West was blocked from entering Australia.