President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has enacted the decision of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) to impose sanctions on five cultural figures of the aggressor state of russia who justify aggression and spread russian propaganda at international events, all of them related to russia's participation in the 61st Venice Biennale. It was announced by the Office of the President, the Ukrainian News agency reports.
They include the daughter of the sanctioned deputy director general of Rostec, Anastasia Karneyeva, who has been appointed commissioner of the russian pavilion at the Venice Biennale since 2021 and will represent russia there this year.
Sanctions have also been imposed on Mikhail Shvydkoi, russia's special representative for international cultural cooperation, who calls russia's war against Ukraine "an important historical moment." He also publicly states that russia's admission to the Venice Biennale is allegedly proof that russian culture is not isolated.
This list also includes russians who will participate in the Venice Biennale this year on behalf of the aggressor state: violinist Valeria Oleinik, who after 2014 repeatedly visited the temporarily occupied peninsula of Crimea to support the aggression, singer Ilya Tatakov, who participated in the creation of a propaganda film in the temporarily occupied territories of the Donetsk Region to popularize the ideas of the "russian world", and vocalist Artem Nikolayev, who last year participated in propaganda activities in Crimea.
"Russia's participation in the Venice Biennale is not about culture, but about using international platforms to legitimize aggression and spread propaganda. Either you are against the Russian regime and have access to the cultural space of the free world, or you serve propaganda, receive sanctions and participate in the festival of "cucumber", said Vladyslav Vlasiuk, Presidential Commissioner for Sanctions Policy of Ukraine.
The President's Office notes that Ukraine will provide all the necessary information to partners to synchronize sanctions in their jurisdictions.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, the European Commission has issued a stern warning to the management of the Venice Biennale over the decision to reopen the russian national pavilion at the 2026 exhibition and threatens to stop funding the Biennale because of russia's return.
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