The initiative was opened by Elena Buscemi, president of the Milan City Council, and Riccardo Sorrentino, president of the Lombardia Order of Journalists. There were many illustrious speeches, to support the independent Russian journalists and war reporters: Galina Timchenko, founder and director of Meduza, the independent Russian magazine that defies Putin's censorship, Zoja Svetova, journalist of the Russian newspaper Novaja Gazeta, the director of La Repubblica Maurizio Molinari, the Russian journalist Anna Zafesova, the journalist of Il Foglio Micol Flammini, and the president of Gariwo Gabriele Nissim. 

The morning ended with a symbolic gesture: a yellow flower placed near the memorial stones dedicated to the Righteous Anna Politkovskaya, Andrej Sacharov and Vasilij Grossman, defenders of freedom of expression and peace in the Soviet and post-Soviet world.