Moscow — Former Royal Ballet star Sergei Polunin, known for his tattoos of Russian President Vladimir Putin, announced Wednesday that he plans to leave Russia. The Ukrainian-Russian dancer was one of the most prominent stars who supported Russia unilateral annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its military attack on Ukraine. He was awarded with prestigious government posts.

In a sloppy, misspelled message on his Instagram account, Polunin wrote: “My time in Russia is long over, at this point it seems I have fulfilled my mission here.”

The post first appeared on Sunday on his little-read Telegram account.

Polunin (35) did not give a specific reason for leaving, but said that “there comes a time when the soul feels that it is not where it should be”.

He said he was leaving with his family – his wife Jelena and three children – but “for now it is not clear where we are going”.

In the summer, the dancer complained about the lack of security and said he was being followed.

Polunin, who was born in Ukraine, supported Putin’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 – an introduction to the present, full invasion of Ukraine which Putin launched in February 2022.

The dancer received Russian citizenship in 2019. He was appointed acting head of the dance academy in the largest city of occupied Crimea, Sevastopol, and director of the city’s opera and ballet theater, for which a large new building is being built.

Even last year, Putin honored him for his role in popularizing the dance. But in August he was replaced as head of the dance academy by former Bolshoi prima Maria Alexandrova, and a week ago, Russian Art Minister Olga Lyubimova announced that his job as director of the theater would go to singer Ildar Abdrazakov.

This happened after Polunin posted on social media on December 9 that he was “very sorry for the people” living in a heavily bombed village near the Ukrainian city of Kherson, where his family is from, and that “the worst deal would was better than war.”

At the age of 13, Polunin received a scholarship to train at the Royal Ballet School in London and became its youngest principal dancer.

With his tattoos — including a large depiction of Putin’s face emblazoned across his chest — and his rebellious attitude, he became known as the “bad boy of ballet” and caused a sensation by quitting the Royal Ballet at the height of his fame in 2012.

He later made a hit video for the Irish musician in 2015 Hozier’s song “Take Me to Church” and was the star of a 2016 documentary called “The Dancer.”

He moved to perform in ballet at Moscow’s Stanislavsky Music Theater before embarking on a solo career, starring in dance performances in roles including the mystical Grigory Rasputin.

In 2019, he posed for AFP with a large tattoo of Putin on his chest, which he later supplemented with two Putin faces on both shoulders. He also has a large Ukrainian trident on his right hand.

This year he participated in Putin’s re-election campaign as a celebrity endorser.