Pursuits
Putin Jazzman Hailed by Clinton Skates U.S.-Russia Divide
- Dual citizen warned by America over `illegal' Crimea concert
- Elite caught between loyalty to Kremlin and global ties
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The only American jazzman who plays pickup hockey with Vladimir Putin has some advice for the leaders of both sides of the former Cold War divide as tensions over Ukraine and Syria simmer: Be cool, man.
Such yearning for harmony may be expected from the musician Bill Clinton called his favorite living saxophonist, but Igor Butman is more than a maestro. After immigrating to New York in the dying days of the Soviet Union, the St. Petersburg native returned with dual nationality less than a decade later and now spends most of his time in Moscow, where he’s a senior member of the ruling United Russia party.