Kyiv protests against Moscow’s participation in Venice Biennale art festival

Ukrainian ministers launched a protest at plans to reopen the Russian pavilion at the Venice Biennale, in a statement published in Kyiv on Sunday.Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and Culture Minister Tetyana Berezhna called the admission of Russian artists to international events unacceptable and asked the organisers to reconsider their decision.After all, they had condemned Moscow’s aggression soon after the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine more than four years ago, they noted.“It is incomprehensible to us why this position is changing now, when Russia refuses to stop the war, rejects peace efforts and dialogue, and instead continues to rely on terror and atrocities,” they said.“Under such conditions, any policy changes or softening of restrictions have no real basis and can only send a dangerous signal of support for aggression, tolerance of Russian war crimes and the normalisation of the Russian occupiers’ genocidal policy,” the joint statement said.They said the cultural sector must be protected from war propaganda, meaning there was no reason to lift restrictions; rather, doing so could send a dangerous signal of support for the aggression.