The Davos Forum rolls out the red carpet for Ukraine

In Davos, the Russia House has been transformed into the Russian War Crimes House and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been invited to open the Forum on Monday 23 May.

© Mounia Daoudi / RFI

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2 mins

After two and a half years of absence due to the Covid 19 pandemic, the Davos Forum is back.

No less than 2,500 participants, Heads of State and Government, big bosses, leaders of international organizations and personalities from civil society, are expected in the small Swiss ski resort.

But this year, no Russian caviar in Davos, the forum has chosen to roll out the red carpet to Ukraine.

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with our special correspondent in Davos

,

Mounia Daoudi

They were unavoidable in Davos, among the main sponsors of the annual assembly.

Their parties were the most extravagant and popular.

But this year, Russian oligarchs are no longer welcome.

And the House of Russia has been transformed into the House of Russian War Crimes…

Here neither caviar nor vodka but a large screen on which parade the atrocities committed in Ukraine.

“

Here you have a map that we produced with Amnesty International and the Attorney General where we only show the proven facts of rapes and executions,

explains

Bjorn Geldhof

, the designer of this exhibition. 

Cases where an investigation has been opened.

For example here for

Mariupol

you have a question mark because we don't know anything.

We did not have access to it.

We can't verify

".

Organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation (Ukrainian businessman and patron) and the PinchukArtCentre, an international contemporary art center based in kyiv of which Bjorn Geldhof is the artistic director, "the exhibition aims to inform about the main facts, to share faces, names and dates and to provide at least some of the victims with a platform from which to tell their true story,” the foundation explained in a press release.

► To read also: The city of Mariupol, from the metallurgical industry to seaside tourism?

On a giant screen in the Russia House in Davos, images of war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine, May 22, 2022. © Mounia Daoudi/RFI

For Bjorn Geldhof, not being in Davos was not an option.

“

Here, we are used to imagining what the world will be like.

And a big part of that future is being played out right now in Ukraine.

Because this War is not just a turf war.

And Ukraine is not only defending its right to exist, it is defending our values

.

»

Invited to open this 51st edition of the World Economic Forum, President Zelensky will not fail to recall it.

© RFI

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