Italian city authorities announced on Tuesday that exhibitions and conferences on the “revitalization” of the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol will no longer be held, a decision welcomed by the Kiev government.
On January 20th, the Russian Cultural Association of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy rented a municipal hall in Modena to hold an event called “Mariupol – Postwar Rebirth”.
But the city council said the event “took on the characteristics of a demonstration of open support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”
It added that the communication from the association was not in line with the Italian constitution’s promise to respect the values and “in particular the prohibition of professing and/or practicing fascist and racist ideologies.”
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko said the ministry had asked Modena to withdraw its permit for what it called a “propaganda” exhibition.
“We wholeheartedly welcome this decision. We thank both the Italian city hall and the Ukrainian people in Italy for not allowing Italian society to be misled about the consequences of Russian crimes in Mariupol and Ukraine.”
Mariupol, a port city on the Sea of Azov, fell to Russian forces in the spring of 2022 after being virtually annihilated in a month-long siege, and has since been occupied by Russian forces.