“Given the ongoing situation in Ukraine, it is not possible for Pavel Sorokin, conductor for the Bolshoi Orchestra, to guest conduct for the Royal Ballet at this time,” a statement said.

The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, where the Royal Ballet is based, said last week it had cancelled a season of performances by Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet.

Both announcements follow a series of others by Western artistic and cultural institutions since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Sorokin made his Royal Ballet debut conducting “Swan Lake” in 2007, according to a biography on the Royal Opera House website.

Born in Moscow, he studied piano and conducting at the Moscow Conservatory before beginning work at the Bolshoi Theatre as a ballet pianist in 1983.

He has performed at leading venues around the world, including the Kennedy Center in Washington, the Paris Opera and the Metropolitan Opera in New York.