Evidence

Search results confirm this is a real, actively reported story. The magazine Post- first reported that shortly before ballet master Yuri Grigorovich's death (he died on 19 May 2025), he transferred, free of charge, the copyright to 11 of his ballet productions to his assistant-choreographer Ruslan Pronin, citing unnamed sources. Crucially, the independent outlet Meduza reported the same claim and explicitly stated it had independently confirmed the information ('Медузе удалось подтвердить эту информацию'). Meduza further reported that weeks after Grigorovich's death, Pronin registered an NGO, the 'Yuri Grigorovich Fund,' on 3 July, transferred the rights to it, and began demanding royalty payments from theaters worldwide performing Grigorovich's ballets. Other Russian outlets (BFM.ru, The Insider, and Telegram channel 'Жаба и Гадюка') corroborate the broader dispute: Grigorovich's nephew Nikolai Karatygin is contesting the rights transfer in court (Tverskoy and Gagarinsky district courts, with an Arbitration Court of Moscow case also pending), alleging Grigorovich, then 98 and in poor health, did not understand what he was signing. No Reuters, AFP, Bellingcat, or EUvsDisinfo fact-check was found on this specific claim, as it concerns an internal Russian cultural/legal dispute rather than a conflict-related disinformation claim typically covered by those organizations.