BRUSSELS, March 11. /TASS/. The European Commission may withdraw a €2 million grant from the Venice Biennale for inviting Russia to open its own pavilion at this year’s exhibition, European Commission Spokesperson Thomas Regnier said.
"It’s a grant of 2 million euro for a period of three years," he stated at a briefing in Brussels.
Regnier added that the grant funds are intended for training and film production.
Politico previously reported that in a joint statement, European Commissioners Glenn Micallef and Henna Virkkunen, responsible for culture and democracy, argued that the participation of Russian representatives in the Biennale allegedly contradicts the EU’s anti-Russian sanctions regime.
Earlier, Mikhail Shvydkoy, the Russian president’s representative for international cultural cooperation, told TASS that the country should take part in all significant international cultural events, and Ukraine’s dissatisfaction with Russia’s participation in the Venice Biennale should not influence the organizers’ decisions. Russia last presented its own project in the pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2021, when the exhibition received a special mention from the jury.