Petition to impose cultural sanctions on the Russian Federation

The Russian Federation has willfully and maliciously violated existing international standards and agreements. Together with political and economic sanctions, as well as a ban to compete in sporting and other events, we call for sanctions to limit Russian state presence in the international cultural arena.

Russia’s political system is authoritarian, with many aspects wholly totalitarian, and often misuses Russian culture for state propaganda purposes. In the name of Ukraine and its partner countries which stand for humanitarian principles, peace, and world order, we issue the following demands:

1. Cancel all projects which involve the Russian Federation and projects supported with financing which has Russian ties.

2.  Ban the operations of all Russian cultural centres located in partner countries.

3.  Remove all Russian nationals from the supervisory boards of cultural alliances, cancel sponsorships, and withdraw organisational support.

4.  Ban Russians from competing in international competitions (e.g., the Eurovision ban), participating in exhibitions, forums, and other cultural events, including:

a) contemporary art exhibitions and fairs, e.g., the Vienna Biennale, Art Basel, Documenta, etc.

b) the Cannes Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, Venice International Film Festival, and other international film festivals.

c) the Salzburg Festival, Avignon Festival, Arena di Verona Festival, and other musical and theater festivals.

d) international book fairs, including the Frankfurt Book Fair, London Book Fair, etc.

5. Stop promoting Russian culture in the mass media.

6. Pull out of partnerships with all artists and entertainers who openly support the Russian President Vladimir Putin and his actions, as has already been exemplified by the Munich Philharmonic, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera House in London and other theatre companies.

We, the artists and cultural activists of Ukraine, highly value the stance taken by some Russian cultural influencers who have openly condemned the Russian aggression and military action against Ukraine. Art has always remained at the forefront of humanitarian values. We strongly believe that culture cannot be subservient to political propaganda, instead it should be utilised for developing critical thinking and promoting dialogue.

The Russian Federation is a rogue state. Russian culture is toxic! Don’t be an accomplice!

The signees:

Oleksandr Tkachenko, Minister of Culture and Informational Policy of Ukraine

Galyna Grygorenko, Head of the State Agency of Ukraine for Arts and Artistic Education

Volodymyr Sheiko, director of Ukrainian Institute

Oksana Lyniv, conductor

Pavlo Gudimov, curator, founder of Art center Ya Gallery

Marta Trotsyuk, founder of Gallery 101, Head of Gallerists Association

Kostyantyn Shumsky, gallerist

Olesya Domoradska, gallerist

Sergiy Savchenko, gallerist

Vlad Troitsky, director, founder of «GogolFest»

Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, musician, «Okean Elzy»

Maks Yakover, founder of Big City Lab

Oleksiy Botvvinov, musician

Valentyn Vasyanovych, film director

Olga Plyska-Pasichnyk, opera singer

Andriy Bondarenko, opera singer

Andriy Kurkov, writer

Andriy Yurkevych, conductor

Irma Vitovska, actress

Natalia Vorozhbyt, film director

Natalya Pasichnyk, musician

Serhiy Zhadan, writer

Valentyn Sylvestrov, composer

Oleg Sentsov, film director

Nariman Aliyev, film director

Kateryna Gornostai, film director

Pavlo Makov, artist, represents Ukraine on Venice Biennale 2022

Tamara Trunova, theater director

The list is being constantly updated below…

You can also sign it here