The Venice Biennale will not exclude Russia from its events due to political pressure, the foundation’s president said Thursday in a public address criticizing the European Union’s recent confirmation that it will suspend a €2 million ($2.3 million) grant. The withdrawal of funding was made in response to Russia’s participation in this year’s Biennale for the first time since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

During the opening of the 2026 Venice Film Festival, Biennale president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco said the EU ”was ⁠a fellow traveler with whom we shared part of a journey, ​and who is now leaving us for reasons that are entirely ​political, certainly not legal, and still less cultural.” The news was first reported by Reuters.