Artists for Ukraine: Georgian-born pianist Khatia Punatishvili plays for peace

Katya Bonatechvili was born in Georgia and became one of the most famous pianists in the world. This week, she led a concert in Paris with other artists in solidarity with Ukraine.

She talks to Eve Jackson about the conflict, and why she stopped performing in Russia in 2008 after the country launched a ground attack on Georgia, and shares her thoughts on the world’s boycott of Russian artists.

We also discuss the reaction of Demna Gvasalia, Georgian-born director of French fashion house Balenciaga, to the war in Ukraine. When he was 12 years old, he was one of the 250,000 Georgians who were forced from their homes by Abkhaz separatists during the Georgian civil war, and crossed the Caucasus Mountains with his family.

Gvasalia says the war has “caused the pain of the trauma of the past” he has carried since 1993, when “the same thing happened” in his homeland.