US rapper Kanye West makes surprise visit to Moscow for designer’s birthday

West is thought to be the first high-profile Western music star to visit Russia since the start of Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with most performers avoiding the country due to sanctions and public pressure.

West and Rubchinskiy are known to have been friends for a number of years, and West has been pictured wearing Rubchinskiy’s designs on multiple occasions. In December, West appointed Rubchinskiy as creative director of his brand Yeezy in what he called a “milestone in design history”.

Known for his 1990s-inspired designs and prominent use of Cyrillic text, Rubchinskiy became the poster boy for “post-Soviet fashion” in the mid-2010s, collaborating with the likes of Adidas and Burberry before closing his eponymous brand in spring 2018.

Later that year, allegations emerged that Rubchinskiy had pressured a minor to send him explicit photographs, which the designer and his team denied.

West has also courted controversy in recent years, having been suspended from Twitter in 2022 for antisemitic messages. He has previously praised both Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Putin, referring to himself as “Young Putin” and expressing his desire to meet the Russian leader.