Russia at the Venice Biennale sparks EU ire; Virkkunen: “Ready to cut funding”

Brussels – “In response to the communications and requests for participation from Countries, La Biennale di Venezia rejects any form of exclusion or censorship of culture and art.” It is the message that sparked discord, one that does not reject Russia’s request to participate in the 61st International Art Exhibition, scheduled in Venice from 9 May, and which has drawn the ire of the entire European Union and Ukraine. 

Russia at the Venice Biennale turns into a political controversy. A total of 22 countries wrote to censure the incident and demand that Moscow be categorically excluded from the event. The ministers of culture and foreign affairs of 20 EU countries (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and Sweden) plus those of Norway and Ukraine, united in saying ‘no’ to Russia at the Venice Biennale.

 The ministers’ letter is in addition to the one the European Parliament sent a few days ago, in which 26 MEPs representing the Popular (EPP), Socialist (S&D), Liberal (RE), Green, Conservative (ECR), Radical Left (The Left), and the Non-attached groups asked the president and board of directors of the Foundation to “to reconsider the participation of
the Russian Federation in the 2026 edition of the exhibition.” As MEPs, “we condemn in the strongest possible terms the decision to allow Russia to appear at one of the
world’s most prestigious cultural platforms while it continues its brutal war of aggression against
Ukraine,” according to the letter.  

The Executive Vice-President for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Virkkunen, and the EU Commissioner for Intergenerational Equity, Youth, Culture and Sport, Glenn Micallef, have issued a warning on behalf of the European Commission. “Should the Fondazione Biennale go forward with its decision to allow Russia’s participation, we will examine further action, including the suspension or termination of an ongoing EU grant to the Biennale Foundation,” they said in a statement. 

 Faced with crossfire, the Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli, also dissociates himself from the Venice Biennale’s decision and attempts to get the exhibition organisers to backtrack. “Italy belongs to the free world and is happy to promote any form of art, even dissident art,” the minister said. “The same cannot be said of the autocracies that, within the Venice Biennale, are owners of pavilions such as that of the Russian Federation, which will be opened, contrary to the opinion of the Italian government that I represent.” Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, president of the Biennale Foundation, is standing his ground for now: “Exclusion and censorship are left at the door.” 

The “Biennale case” has also become a source of criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has accused Russia of using its participation in major sporting and cultural events to strengthen its influence and demonstrate that it is not isolated. These comments represent a distancing from the Biennale’s decisions.