(ANSA) - Rome, March 15 - A group of Ukrainian MPs have demanded that secret services (SBU) chief Vasily Gritsak ban Italian singer Toto Cutugno from holding a concert in Kiev on March 23 due to alleged pro-Russian positions.

ANSA was told the news on Friday by one of the MPs who made the request, Viktor Romanyuk, confirming reports on Thursday that appeared in Economistua.com.

Cutugno told ANSA "I'm very surprised and sorry for this news. It's absurd that a group of Ukrainian MPs want to stop me signing in a country I love and that loves my music.

"I'm apolitical, is that clear? I have sung in institutional occasions for heads of state including Putin, but that doesn't mean political support".

Cutugno's manager Danilo Mancuso told ANSA: "Toto has always been far from the political ambit and in all his life has never expressed himself in any direction".

Ukraine's culture ministry on Monday put another Italian singer, Albano Carrisi, better known by his stage name Al Bano, on its list of individuals considered a threat to national security.

Al Bano and his ex-wife Romina Power were big in the Soviet Union in the 1980s and they are still popular in Russia.

