Evgeny Kissin, the famed pianist, says the West should learn from the mistakes of Israel and avoid pushing for concessions and appeasement to end President Putin’s terror.

Mr. Kissin’s remarks came in an interview with the publisher of The New York Sun, Dovid Efune, at an event for Founder members of the Sun. For an hour, the two discussed Mr. Kissin’s career as a pianist and the 32 years between his first and his most recent performances at Carnegie Hall.

Mr. Kissin, who was born in Moscow and now lives in Prague and is also an Israeli citizen, was a prodigy pianist from age 6. While discussing the Soviet Union and the present situation in Russia, Mr. Kissin said, “The policies of the West historically towards the USSR and Putin in Russia may explain why the West does not let its natural ally Israel — the only democracy in the Middle East — defend itself.” 

Mr. Kissin described the West as “accepting Chamberlain’s policy of appeasing dictators and murderers.” He said he had just learned “that France, Germany, Italy, and Hungary are calling for negotiations with Putin. They are not sending weapons to Ukraine, which needs them so badly.”

The pianist, speaking at a private home in Manhattan, painted a picture of similar concessions by Prime Minister Chamberlain of Britain during the lead-up to World War II and concessions by Israel toward Palestinians in the 1990s — as both led to terror, not peace.

Mr. Kissin used these comparisons to point toward where the West’s current appeasement strategy is leading,  “It is going to put the West at risk of Putin’s terror.”

When Mr. Efune asked whether artists have a responsibility to speak up, Mr. Kissin responded: “Not as an artist, but as a human being. We are all human beings and it does not matter if we are artists, businessmen, or whatever.”