The "Daughters of Russia" syndicate in Venice: how Karneeva, Vinokurova, and Mikhelson bribed Buttafuoco to bypass sanctions at the Biennale

03 мая 2026 г.

Kseniya Zhukova

A scandal has erupted in Italy over the actions of the daughter of a FSB general, which could lead to significant resignations.

The activities of the leadership of the Venice Biennale are currently being investigated by inspectors — the cause was an attempt to revive the Russian pavilion. Legally, its operation is impossible due to sanctions.

However, according to correspondence published in the Italian press between the president of the Biennale Foundation, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, the CEO Andrea Delercato, and the commissioner of the Russian pavilion, Anastasia Karneeva, they jointly devised a way for Russia to participate formally without violating sanctions. The plan involved allowing only the press into the pavilion, while the entire program would be broadcast on screens outside.

Preparations for Russia’s return to Italian soil reportedly began privately as early as last June. In November, the Biennale director himself facilitated a visa for the pavilion curator Petr Musoev — at Karneeva’s request, he sent Musoev a personal invitation so that the visa could be issued out of turn and as quickly as possible.

Karneeva later sent Buttafuoco a visualization of the updated Russian pavilion along with full information about the new program. This triggered a major scandal, resulting in Italy’s Minister of Culture Alexsandro Giuli refusing to attend the Biennale and calling for the resignation of Culture Ministry representative Tamara Gregoretti from the Biennale Foundation’s board of directors, after she allegedly not only concealed information about the Russian pavilion but also expressed support for Russian participation. Ukraine demanded the cancellation of visas for five Russian participants involved in bypassing sanctions. The European Commission announced the withdrawal of a €2 million grant from the Foundation.

The Biennale jury announced that pavilions from countries whose leaders are accused by the ICC of crimes against humanity would not participate in the competition, and then collectively resigned — meaning the Golden Lion award will now be decided by public vote. Russia, incidentally, has extensive experience in organizing electronic public voting (and tested software used in elections), so it could also help Buttafuoco in this regard.

Tamara Gregoretti, who allegedly helped the Russian side bypass sanctions, is an Italian journalist who worked for nearly 30 years at Mediaset, the media holding owned by Silvio Berlusconi, a long-time friend of Putin (now owned by his family). In 1991, she joined his Italia 1 channel, later working for RaiUno, Canale 5, Tg1, Rai2, and Rainews24 within the same media group, where she led political analysis and managed political talk shows. In 2016, she oversaw the international politics segment on Rainews24 under company president Monica Maggioni, who interviewed Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Rai also aired a series of interviews with Putin. It would be unsurprising if Gregoretti retained some of her former contacts. Notably, the former culture minister who appointed her to the Biennale board was removed from office amid a scandal involving embezzlement of public funds and disclosure of confidential information.

Anastasia Karneeva (Volobueva) was appointed commissioner — i.e., head of the pavilion — in 2021 for an eight-year term. She is the daughter of a retired FSB general, a longtime associate of Rostec CEO Sergey Chemezov, Nikolai Volobuev. Since 2006, Volobuev has been director for special assignments at Rosoboronexport and has served on the board of the Kalashnikov Concern. The daughter of Chemezov’s associate is not attending the Venice festival alone; her business partner in the art company “Smart Art” is Ekaterina Vinokurova, daughter of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Another representative of the Russian elite has also found a cultural haven there — Viktoria Mikhelson, daughter of oligarch Leonid Mikhelson (who in 2021 promised to sponsor the Russian pavilion). Victoria owns Palazzo alle Zattere in Venice, where a program titled “Dance around the Rule” is scheduled this season.

According to media reports, the palace also houses the Venice headquarters of the Russian V-A-C Foundation, founded by Mikhelson together with Italian Teresa Mavica — a strong supporter of Russian culture who received Russian citizenship in 2019. Mavica is a political scientist by education and is unlikely to have been unaware of developments in Russia in the pre-war years. She previously served as commissioner of the Russian pavilion at the Biennale, while Karneeva’s Smart Art handled its strategic management. In addition, Mavica chaired the board of Art Finance, a company founded by Gazprombank-related structures, whose director until May 2022 was Marina Sitnina, executive vice president of the bank.

Karneeva has long-standing close ties with Gazprombank. In 2020, she became a co-owner of the company “Carbonix,” which announced the production of so-called “analog-free” carbon-based bone-replacement implants in Russia. Karneeva held a 10% stake in the company, while 78% belonged to Vladislav Avaev, former vice president of Gazprombank and then CEO of RT-Carbon (co-owned by Rostec through RT-Project Technologies). Rostec had already presented carbon implants in 2017 at the “Russia Looking to the Future” exhibition.

Karneeva exited Carbonix in 2023, and the company was liquidated in 2024. Her husband Dmitry Karneev also distanced himself from potentially toxic assets: in 2023 he left the founding structure of electronics manufacturer NPP OTEK (which shared the same address as Rostec’s subsidiary Experimental Design Bureau “Radikal”), and in 2024 he exited Rosspirtprom. He now only holds a 50% stake in a Moscow-region company, Elba LLC, which operates restaurants and food delivery services