🚫👏 22 countries demand that Russia be removed from the 2026 Venice Biennale.
The letter was signed by representatives of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Spain, Ireland, Lithuania, Latvia (initiators of the letter), Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, and Ukraine.
They stressed that culture cannot be a platform for the “soft power” of an aggressor state.
Ukraine’s Minister of Culture, Tetyana Berezhna, noted that Russia is planning a performance about “culture beyond politics,” involving two Ukrainians from occupied Crimea.
“Russia is trying to normalize the war and normalize the terrible crimes it is committing. But this is a very dangerous signal that we are fighting against,” she said.
The day before, the European Commission had already threatened the Biennale Foundation with sanctions for allowing an aggressor state to participate.
