MOSCOW, January 25. /TASS/. French actor Pierre Richard believes his performances in Crimea on February 10 and 11 are impossible at the moment, the Studio 2A company, which organized his Crimean tour, told TASS on Monday.

Richard was going to stage his comedy Pierre Richard III in Crimea. "The final decision was taken just 20 minutes ago at a meeting in Paris: Richard is definitely not going to Crimea," the company said. "So far, he believes his visit to the peninsula is impossible. Richard declined to cite the reasons for his decision, but they are neither political nor economic."

The organizer added that the actor had a very busy schedule of his tour in Crimea. Performances were planned not only in Simferopol and Sevastopol but also in other cities. "The tickets went on sale in early December, more than half of them were sold," he said. "As far as I know, people are in no hurry to return tickets hoping that Pierre Richard will eventually arrive, but this is not going to happen in the near future. Together with the Moscow organizers of the tour, we are preparing a formal letter, the contract will be cancelled. Everything was paid for, it was a big surprise for us."

Crimea’s Culture Minister Arina Novoselskaya earlier told TASS that Richard had cancelled his tour of the Black Sea peninsula.