News
25.08.2023
Victor Pinchuk Foundation opened the Russian War Crimes Exhibition in Bratislava
On 24th August 2023, on the Independence Day of Ukraine, the Victor Pinchuk Foundation and PinchukArtCentre in partnership with the Office of the President of Ukraine and Embassy of Ukraine in the Slovak Republic opened the Russian War Crimes exhibition at the Bratislavský hrad (Bratislava Castle). The project shows photos taken from all over Ukraine since the start of Russia’s brutal and unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Even so, it only addresses a fraction of the committed crimes. It makes the Western audience witness the stories of torture, executions, and bombardments committed by Russians against Ukraine’s servicemen and civilians.
Miroslav Wlachovský, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic, Victor Pinchuk, founder of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, PinchukArtCentre, Andriy Yermak, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Myroslav Kastran, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Slovak Republic and Zuzana Fialová, Slovak actress spoke at the official opening of the Russian War Crimes Exhibition.
Andriy Yermak addressed the audience through a video, emphasising the vital significance of following the peace formula proposed by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, along with the mandatory prosecution of aggressors on the International Tribunal: “In our opinion, a special International Tribunal can be established on the basis of the agreement between Ukraine and the United Nations. Most of the civilised world is already united in the faith. But those who unleashed this war and committed hundreds or thousands of horrific crimes must be tried and punished”.
Victor Pinchuk shared his experience of working on another commemorative project and noted the importance of telling the world about Russian war crimes: “Since 2016, I have been involved in the creation of a Holocaust memorial in Babyn Yar, Ukraine, where German Nazis committed genocide against Ukrainian Jews during World War II. Over two days in September 1941, 34,000 Ukrainian Jews were tragically killed. We established this memorial with the hope that such a tragedy would never happen in human history. But unfortunately, since February 24th, 2022, we witnessing genocide, committed by Russian Nazis against Ukrainians. And we realise that this "Never again" approach doesn’t work, so we have to change our approach to “Stop now”. And we have to tell this tragic story about Russian war crimes as loudly as possible and as widely as possible, with the hope that political leaders will decide to send weapons to Ukraine as much as possible and as quickly as possible”.
Miroslav Wlachovský expressed the solidarity of the Slovak people with the people of Ukraine in the common fight for freedom: “Since 2014, Ukraine has been unjustly paying a high cost for its free decision. However, I am convinced that this part of Ukrainian history will remind the whole world of the price of freedom. I avail this opportunity to commend the brave defenders of Ukraine who are also fighting to defend our freedom and our shared values”.
The Russian War Crimes exhibition was first shown at the former Russia House in Davos during the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2022. Later it was displayed, with great impact, in the Houses of Parliament in London, at NATO Headquarters and the European Parliament in Brussels as well as in NYC during the UN General Assembly. In January of 2023, the exhibition returned to Davos where its new version was again demonstrated during the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting. Afterwards, in February 2023, this project was hosted at the Munich Security Conference and in July 2023 it was exhibited during the NATO Summit in Vilnius.
The Russian War Crimes Exhibition can be found at the Bratislavský hrad, Hrad 811 06, from the 24th of August to the 30th of August.
To view the video of the opening event and listen to the speeches, please visit our YouTube channel.
Photos by PinchukArtCentre are available following the link: https://bit.ly/3su4mqc
