A stage for whitewashing war crimes': Venice Biennale urged to exclude Russia

"The Venice Biennale is one of the world's most authoritative art platforms, and it must not become a stage for whitewashing the war crimes that Russia commits daily against the Ukrainian people and our cultural heritage. We call on the organisers of the Venice Biennale to reconsider their decision to allow the Russian Federation to return and to maintain the principled position demonstrated in 2022-2024."

"Russia has waged a systematic war against Ukrainian culture, identity, and historical memory, while killing 346 artists and 132 Ukrainian and foreign journalists, destroying or damaging more than 1,700 cultural heritage sites and stealing over 35,000 museum relics."

"The biennale said in its statement that the exhibition was an open institution that rejects any form of exclusion or censorship of art."

Ukraine's foreign and culture ministers have called on Venice Biennale organizers to reconsider allowing Russia to participate in the 2025 exhibition. The biennale previously condemned Russia's 2022 invasion and effectively excluded Russian participation in 2022 and 2024, though never formally banning the country. Ukraine argues that permitting Russia's return contradicts the biennale's earlier principled stance and risks whitewashing documented war crimes. Russia has systematically targeted Ukrainian culture, killing hundreds of artists and journalists while destroying thousands of cultural heritage sites and stealing museum artifacts. The biennale maintains it operates as an open institution rejecting censorship, while Italy's culture ministry and cross-party European Parliament members have also opposed the decision.

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