Cannes Lions organiser, Ascential, has banned Russian entries and delegates from this year’s Festival of Creativity in its stand against Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

In a statement, Ascential explained, “We stand together with our friends in Ukraine and our many partners and community members in Russia who strongly oppose the actions of the Russian Government. Despite our desire to celebrate creativity from wherever it comes, we have made the decision not to accept submissions or delegations from Russian organizations into Cannes Lions or its associated awards programmes.”

Ascential is also waiving entry fees for all Ukraine creatives who are able to attend this year’s event at Cannes this year, June 20-24, and has stated that it will make a “significant donation” to humanitarian charities working in the affected region and refund Ukrainian entrants for any categories they’ve already entered this year.

Ascential has set up a talent directory for members of the creative community affected by the war on the Lions platform, urging the global community to “commission and support our friends during these troubled times”.

People affected can create a profile here.

At last year’s Cannes Lions festival, Russia had 401 award entries and Ukraine 48 entries for work from the previous two years. That followed the cancellation of the 2020 event because of the pandemic.

D&AD and Cresta (Creative Standards International) have also taken a stand against Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine. It is a wonderful show of support for Ukraine and an important public display of condemnation against an aggressive act, but it is a great pity for celebrating advertising creativity. Russian agencies do some truly inspiring work.