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The jury of the Venice Biennale has quit just days before the prestigious art exhibition was due to begin, amid a row over the decision to allow Russia to participate.

The resignation of the five-member international jury was announced late on Thursday in a brief statement by the Venice Biennale organisers, and came a day after the Italian culture ministry sent inspectors to Venice in search of information about the decision to allow Russia to have a pavilion at this year’s event.

After the resignations, the biennale said it had “decided that the award ceremony of the 61st International Art Exhibition, previously scheduled for 9 May, will take place on Sunday, 22 November”.

It also said it would hand out two awards, one which could be won by any one of the “national participations included in the 61st Exhibition, as per the official list, following the principle of inclusion and equal treatment”.

“This is consistent with the founding spirit of La Biennale, based on openness, dialogue, and the rejection of any form of closure or censorship,” it said in a statement.

“La Biennale seeks to be, and must remain, a place of truce in the name of art, culture, and artistic freedom.”

Last week, the jury said it would not give awards to artists from countries whose leaders were facing charges of crimes against humanity by the international criminal court, a decision apparently aimed at Russia and Israel.

The biennale’s jury is responsible for choosing the winners of the golden and silver lion awards from among the 110 artists participating in the event, which opens on 9 May.

The panel of judges was chosen by Koyo Kouoh, the Swiss-Cameroonian curator who was appointed to lead the 2026 edition of the biennale before her death last year. The jury was led by Solange Farkas and included Zoe Butt, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Marta Kuzma and Giovanna Zapperi.

For weeks, the exhibition’s organisers have been under fire for allowing Russia to reopen its pavilion at the event.

After Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the biennale, one of Italy’s most important cultural institutions, condemned the aggression and banned access to that year’s edition for anyone linked to the Kremlin. It never formally barred Russia from participating, but the country was absent from the 2022 and 2024 editions.

The European Commission wrote to the Biennale Foundation this week saying it planned to terminate or suspend its €2m (£1.73m) grant for the exhibition because of Russia’s involvement. The biennale has 30 days to respond.

Italy’s far-right government has also clashed with organisers over the reintroduction of Russia, with the culture minister, Alessandro Giuli, saying the decision had been made “entirely independently by the Biennale Foundation, despite the Italian government’s opposition”. The only government member who publicly welcomed Russia’s return was Matteo Salvini, deputy prime minister and leader of the far-right League who has long been a supporter of Vladimir Putin.

The biennale has argued that the exhibition was “an open institution” that “rejects any form of exclusion or censorship of art”.

In March, Ukrainian government officials urged organisers to reconsider Russia’s participation, arguing that the biennale must not become “a stage for whitewashing … war crimes”. A group of cross-party MEPs published a letter condemning Russia’s inclusion as “unacceptable”.