Vladmimir Spivakov, one of the Russian musicians closest to the Kremlin, has called off future tours of the Ukraine by his ensemble, Moscow Virtuosi. ‘I will not go there now,’ he told a press conference. ‘It is a great tragedy.’

Speaking of his latest American tour, Spivakov mentioned that he faced anti-Russian demonstrations at every concert. ‘I was handed bunches of roses with black ribbons and pictures of dead Russian soldiers. There was little joy.’ When a protester invaded the concert stage at Harvard and hurled abuse at the maestro, ‘I restrained myself and police dragged him away without my help.’