The European Commission: Italy does not comply with sanctions against Russia

Italy does not comply with sanctions against Russia. This statement was made in the European Commission after it was decided to reopen the Russian pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale. This is reported by the Financial Times.

After a four-year break (Russia did not participate in 2022 and 2024), it was decided to reopen the Russian pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale. This provoked sharp criticism from the European Commission, which saw in this a violation of the sanctions regime and a discrepancy with the values of the EU.

EU officials said that Russia's participation calls into question the biennale's commitment to respect the values of the European Union, and Italy itself allegedly does not comply with sanctions.

The most weighty argument was the decision to withdraw the grant of 2 million euros, which was allocated to the Biennale. The EU stressed that culture should not be used as a platform for propaganda, and European scenes should reflect European values.

The Venice Biennale Foundation defends its decision based on several arguments. The organizers claim that, unlike Expo, the Biennale does not send out official invitations. Countries with their own national pavilions notify about their participation on their own.

The Fund said it had thoroughly checked the project for compliance with the sanctions rules. The key compromise was that the Russian pavilion would be physically closed to the general public throughout the exhibition.

Italian Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli publicly disagreed with the decision of the organizers and announced that he would boycott the opening ceremony of the exhibition.

By his order, inspections were carried out, which, however, found no formal violations of the law (taking into account the fact that the pavilion is not open to the public).

The scandal culminated in an unprecedented situation: a few days before the opening of the exhibition, the entire international jury resigned.

The jury members stated that they refused to award awards (including the Golden Lion) to representatives of countries whose leaders are accused by the International Criminal Court of crimes against humanity — it was about Russia and Israel.

In response, the organizers postponed the award ceremony to November and decided that the winners would be chosen by the visitors who bought tickets.