Lithuanian director Rimas Tuminas is leaving the Vakhtangov Theater in Moscow, the theatre's press service has reported. The team continues to work under the leadership of director Kirill Krok.

“From May 6, 2022, Rimas Tuminas ceases his activities at the Vakhtangov Theater,” the theater said in a statement.

It is noted that since March 1, the director "for health reasons and in connection with the need for treatment" was on vacation at his own expense in Lithuania. According to Kommersant, the director has cancer.

Rimas Tuminas has headed the Vakhtangov Theater since 2007. The director combined this work with the post of artistic director of the Vilnius Small Theatre.
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Lithuanian Minister of Culture Simonas Kairis demanded that Tuminas be fired from the theater in Vilnius. The director said that he understood the position of the minister, but he would not make any decisions himself.
Another Lithuanian director, Mindaugas Karbauskis, resigned as artistic director of the Mayakovsky Theater on the second day of the war in Ukraine, February 25. On May 6, Yegor Peregudov was appointed artistic director of the theater .

Director Rimas Tuminas resigned as artistic director of the Vakhtangov Theater