Participants of the Platform of Russian Democratic Forces in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) wrote an open letter to Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni because Russian representatives will participate in the Venice Biennale. Text of the message March 9 published On Facebook, platform participant, doctor and volunteer Andrei Volna.
The authors of the letter “expressed grave concern about the inclusion of representatives of Putin’s Russia in the official program of the Venice Biennale.”
“Including an aggressor state in the biennial program creates a dangerous precedent that plays into the hands of Russian state propaganda,” platform representatives say.
They called on Meloni to demand the exclusion of all Russian officials from the program, which is held every two years “until all aggression against Ukraine stops, until its legitimate territory is restored, and until compensation is paid for the damages resulting from the war.”
The 2026 Venice Biennale is scheduled to take place from May 9 to November 22. Russia plans to present a series of audio performances at the biennale under the general theme “The tree is rooted in the sky,” said Mikhail Shvedkoy, special representative of the Russian president for cultural cooperation.
Russia has not participated in the Biennale since the beginning of the comprehensive invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces in 2022 and has not used its pavilion in Venice, but only rented it.