Anastasia Volochkova's former PR director Maksim Nikolayev has answered the Russian ballerina's accusations of betrayal and theft in a video statement posted on Instagram.
In the video address, Nikolayev called on event and concert organisers to stop contacting the Honoured Artist of Russia regarding advertising deals and live performances. According to the manager, the public fallout was triggered by a combination of problems that accumulated over the six months they worked together.
Nikolayev stated that many people had tried to talk him out of working with the dancer before their collaboration began. He said acquaintances pointed out that Volochkova's own family does not speak to her and warned him to look at how she treats her relatives, telling him that she would treat him the exact same way. The former PR director added that those warnings turned out to be true.
Dispute over Krasnodar concert pay and travel demands
Comparing his time working with Volochkova to a seesaw, Nikolayev said the performer constantly changed her mind about travel plans. According to his statement, she would say she was travelling one day, refuse to go the next, decline to travel with him, or demand that a ticket be bought for her. He added that the ballerina behaved ungratefully throughout their professional relationship.
His comments followed earlier statements from Volochkova accusing her manager of theft. According to the former Bolshoi Theatre star, Nikolayev charged the organisers of her performance in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar more money than had originally been agreed upon.
In her account of the dispute over the Krasnodar appearance fee, Volochkova also stated that she had taken Nikolayev to an expensive resort for free.
Anastasia Volochkova career and media profile
Volochkova is one of Russia's best known ballet dancers and public figures. Trained at the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in St Petersburg, she danced as a principal ballerina at both the Mariinsky Theatre and Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre, and she holds the state title of Honoured Artist of Russia.
Since leaving the Bolshoi Theatre, she has toured across Russia with her own stage shows while remaining a regular subject of Russian entertainment media. Nikolayev published his video response on Instagram, which continues to be used by many Russian public figures despite being banned in the Russian Federation after its parent company, Meta, was designated as an extremist organisation there.
