Russian Man Ruins Ivan the Terrible Painting 'to Save Tsar’s Reputation'

Journalists attend a news conference about the damaged painting, ‘Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on November 16, 1581.’ (Reuters)
Journalists attend a news conference about the damaged painting, ‘Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on November 16, 1581.’ (Reuters)
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Russian Man Ruins Ivan the Terrible Painting 'to Save Tsar’s Reputation'

Journalists attend a news conference about the damaged painting, ‘Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on November 16, 1581.’ (Reuters)
Journalists attend a news conference about the damaged painting, ‘Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on November 16, 1581.’ (Reuters)

A man who attacked and damaged a masterpiece of Russian painting with a metal pole said he had acted for ideological reasons to rescue the reputation of a tsar, recanting an earlier confession that the vandalism was fueled by vodka.

According to Reuters, his statement is likely to add to liberal concern about the influence of religious conservatives and politicians who have turned Russia’s history into an ideological battleground to boost patriotism.

Igor Podporin, 37, has confessed to attacking one of the country’s most treasured 19th century art works, which depicts Tsar Ivan the Terrible cradling his dying son.

In an initial confession, Podporin said he became overwhelmed after drinking vodka in the cafe of the State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow’s most important art museum. The gallery said that the man had somehow gotten past a group of gallery employees, picked up one of the metal security poles used to keep the public back from the painting and struck its protective glass.

The gallery said in a statement: “As a result of the blows the thick glass was smashed. Serious damage was done to the painting. The canvas was pierced in three places in the central part of the work which depicts the figure of the Tsarevich (the tsar’s son).”

The frame was also badly damaged, the gallery said, but it said that “by a happy coincidence” the most precious elements of the painting, the depiction of the faces and hands of the tsar and his son, were not damaged. But in a Moscow court appearance on Tuesday, Podporin denied he had drunk vodka before the attack, and said he had acted because he objected to the painting.

“The painting is a lie,” Podporin told the court, Russian news agencies reported. “Tsar Ivan the Terrible is ranked among the community of saints.”

The damaged painting was completed by Ilya Repin in 1885 and portrays a grief-stricken tsar holding his own son in his arms after dealing him a mortal blow. But some Russian historians dispute the idea that Ivan murdered his son, and President Vladimir Putin said last year it was unclear if the tsar was guilty or not.

Ivan Melnikov, a human rights official who visited Podporin in custody, told the Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid newspaper on Tuesday that Podporin had been thinking about what he regarded as the incorrect portrayal of Ivan the Terrible for two years.

“I’d heard about this painting a long time ago. Even Putin said on TV that what it depicts is not true. When I got to the Tretyakov I couldn’t stop myself. Foreigners go there and look at it. What will they think about our Russian tsar? About us? It’s a provocation against the Russian people so that people view us badly,” Podporin was quoted as telling him.



Syria Seeks EU Help to Battle Massive Wildfires

FILE : A fire burns at a forest in Latakia province, Syria in this handout released by SANA on October 9, 2020. SANA/Handout via REUTERS
FILE : A fire burns at a forest in Latakia province, Syria in this handout released by SANA on October 9, 2020. SANA/Handout via REUTERS
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Syria Seeks EU Help to Battle Massive Wildfires

FILE : A fire burns at a forest in Latakia province, Syria in this handout released by SANA on October 9, 2020. SANA/Handout via REUTERS
FILE : A fire burns at a forest in Latakia province, Syria in this handout released by SANA on October 9, 2020. SANA/Handout via REUTERS

Syria’s minister of emergencies and disaster management on Tuesday requested support from the European Union to battle wildfires that have swept through a vast stretch of forested land.

The fires have been burning for six days, with Syrian emergency crews struggling to bring them under control amid strong winds and severe drought.

Neighboring countries Jordan, Lebanon and Türkiye have already dispatched firefighting teams to assist in the response.

“We asked the European Union for help in extinguishing the fires,” minister Raed al-Saleh said on X, adding Cyprus was expected to send aid on Tuesday, AFP reported.

“Fear of the fires spreading due to strong winds last night prompted us to evacuate 25 families to ensure their safety without any human casualties,” he added.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) office in Syria, the fires impacted “some 5,000 persons, including displacements, across 60 communities.”

An estimated 100 square kilometers (40 square miles) of forest and farmland -- more than three percent of Syria’s forest cover -- have burned, OCHA told AFP.

At least seven towns in Latakia province have been evacuated as a precaution.

Efforts to extinguish the fires have been hindered by “rugged terrain, the absence of firebreaks, strong winds, and the presence of mines and unexploded ordnance”, Saleh said.

With man-made climate change increasing the likelihood and intensity of droughts and wildfires worldwide, Syria has also been battered by heatwaves and low rainfall.

In June, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said Syria had “not seen such bad climate conditions in 60 years.”