Putin offers French tax row actor Depardieu a Russian passport

A pedestrian walks in the centre of Nechin, a town just across the border from France December 19, 2012. French actor Gerard Depardieu, accused by French government leaders of trying to dodge taxes by buying a house over the border in Nechin, Belgium, has retorted that he was leaving because ''success'' was now being punished in his homeland. A popular and colourful figure in France, the 63-year-old Depardieu is the latest wealthy Frenchman to seek shelter outside his native country after tax increases by the Socialist government.

Credit: Reuters/Pascal Rossignol

MOSCOW | Thu Dec 20, 2012 10:28am EST

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin offered French actor Gerard Depardieu a Russian passport on Thursday, saying he would welcome the 63-year-old celebrity who is embroiled in a bitter tax row with France's socialist government.

Weighing into a dispute over a hike in taxes, Putin heaped praise on Depardieu, making the offer of citizenship in response to a question during his annual televised press conference.

"If Gerard really wants to have either a residency permit in Russia or a Russian passport, we will assume that this matter is settled and settled positively," Putin said.

French daily Le Monde reported on Tuesday that Depardieu had told his close friends he was considering three options to escape France's new tax regime: moving to Belgium, where he owns a home, relocating to Montenegro, where he has a business, or fleeing to Russia.

"Putin has already sent me a passport," Le Monde quoted the actor as jokingly saying.

Depardieu is well-known in Russia where he has appeared in many advertising campaigns, and in 2012 he was one of several Western celebrities invited to celebrate the birthday of Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya's Kremlin-backed leader.

He also worked in Russia last year on a film about the life and times of the eccentric Russian monk Grigory Rasputin.

He has already inquired about how to obtain Belgian residency rights and said he plans to hand in his French passport and social security card.

In what has become an ugly public dispute, France's Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault criticized Depardieu's announcement as "pathetic" and unpatriotic. The actor hit back, accusing France of punishing success and talent.

But Putin said he thought the feud was the result of a "misunderstanding".

The 60-year-old former KGB spy said he was very friendly with Depardieu, saying he thought the actor considered himself a Frenchman who loved the culture and history of his homeland.

Belgian residents do not pay a wealth tax, which in France is now levied on those with assets over 1.3 million euros ($1.7 million). Nor do they pay capital gains tax on share sales.

Hollande is also pressing ahead with plans to impose a 75-percent super tax on income over 1 million euros.

Russia has a flat income tax rate of 13 percent.

(Reporting by Alexei Anishchuk; Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris; Writing by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Alissa de Carbonnel and Andrew Osborn)

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With new home, Mariinsky builds Russian roots

Ballet dancers perform during the premiere of a new production of the Russian composer Sergei Prokoviev's ''Metaphysics'' in the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg November 15, 2006.

Credit: Reuters/Alexander Demianchuk

LONDON | Tue Dec 18, 2012 3:31pm EST

LONDON (Reuters) - With the imminent opening of its third home venue, St. Petersburg's Mariinsky opera and ballet will ramp up an already prodigious output but may ease back on hectic foreign touring, director Valery Gergiev said on Tuesday.

World audiences have come to know Gergiev and his company well as they crisscrossed the globe after the collapse of Soviet state funding. But with Russians now pouring the kind of money into the arts that has just built the $700-million Mariinsky II theatre, he wants to concentrate on domestic performances.

"It's important for us to continue to go to London, Berlin or Chicago," Gergiev told Reuters after a presentation of plans in London. "But now we are more comfortable at home."

Touring remains important, not for commercial gain but for "national pride" in promoting Russian music, he said. Some 300 of 1,000 performances in 2014 would be on the road - but many of these would be not abroad but in distant Russian regions where Gergiev sees it his mission to bring music to the provinces.

For those unable to visit St. Petersburg, where the 2,000-seat new venue will open on May 2 to complement the 150-year-old opera house and a concert hall opened in 2006, the company, known as the Kirov in Soviet times, is expanding its recordings and video broadcasts to theatres worldwide, including in 3D.

A 3D recording of Christmas ballet "The Nutcracker" is in cinemas this winter and Gergiev will go a step further in what he acknowledged is not a risk-free experiment with a live 3D broadcast from St. Petersburg of "Swan Lake" on February 14 - St. Valentine's Day. It is being produced in partnership with the Hollywood 3D studio of "Avatar" director James Cameron.

Turning 60 next year, Gergiev shows little sign of slowing down; he plans to direct all three of the orchestras that will play under the Mariinsky name once the new venue opens, will begin new recordings of Wagner's "Ring" cycle and plans to complete his series of discs of all Shostakovich's symphonies.

While working the company hard, he denied there have been serious rumblings of discontent in the ballet troupe over pay and conditions. Responding to a letter of complaint from dancers that was widely publicized in Russian media last month, he said: "There's nothing terrible happening in the Mariinsky - no way."

In a move to address concerns, however, he announced a plan to build 50 or more apartments to house performers: "They will be relatively cheap apartments, basically a gift to them from the company," he said. "But then they have to perform."

(Reporting by Alastair Macdonald, editing by Jill Serjeant)

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