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Milan– <\/span>EU<\/a> Is cutting 2 million euros ($2.4 million) in grants Venice Biennale<\/a> Above from russia<\/a> The commission announced the participation in the 61st contemporary art show, scheduled to begin on May 9, on Thursday. <\/p>\n The European Commission has informed the Biennale Foundation of the cut in funding, and the Biennale has 30 days to defend its decision to include Russia for the first time since its decision. 2022 attack<\/a> Of Ukraine. spokesman Thomas Regnier said Thursday. The commission had earlier announced<\/a> He intends to do so.<\/p>\n \u201cWe strongly condemn the fact that the Fondazione di Biennale has allowed the Russian pavilion to reopen,\u201d Regnier said.<\/p>\n Russian artists withdrew their participation in 2022, and Russia did not present an exhibition in 2024 for its permanent pavilion, which it loaned to Bolivia. Russia last participated in the international art exhibition in 2019. <\/p>\n The Biennale said in a statement that it “does not have the right to prevent any country from participating. Any country recognized by the Italian Republic may request to participate.”<\/p>\n The Biennale said that, since Russia owns the pavilion built in 1914 in the historic Giardini, it needed only to send notification of its request to participate.<\/p>\n “La Biennale di Venezia rejects any form of exclusion or censorship of culture and art. The Biennale, like the city of Venice, remains a place of dialogue, openness and artistic freedom, encouraging relations between people and cultures, with the constant hope of an end to conflicts and suffering,” the Biennale said.<\/p>\n The biennial contemporary art exhibition is the world’s oldest and most important exhibition, consisting of a main exhibition with national pavilions, organized separately by the participating countries. For this edition, 99 countries will present national pavilions, 29 of which are in the Giardini and the rest in the Arsenale and spread throughout the city. <\/p>\n