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There are growing numbers of courageous people confronting Putin’s War of Aggression.  From Ukrainians, of all ages, taking up arms to Russians protesting on the streets despite police brutality and large numbers of arrests, they are taking on various forms of personal risks to Just Say No to the invasion of Ukraine.   Across Russia, thousands of scientists are signing on — literally hundreds to over a thousand more every day — to an open letter against the war.  To be clear, every single one of them knows that they are risking loss of jobs and persecution but they are making their opposition to the War public despite those risks.

Here is a translation of that open letter.

Open letter from Russian scientists and science journalists against the war with Ukraine, 24.02.2022

We, Russian scientists and scientific journalists, declare a strong protest against the hostilities launched by the armed forces of our country on the territory of Ukraine. This fatal step leads to huge human losses and undermines the foundations of the established system of international security. The responsibility for unleashing a new war in Europe lies entirely with Russia.

There is no rational justification for this war. Attempts to use the situation in Donbass as a pretext for launching a military operation do not inspire any confidence. It is clear that Ukraine does not pose a threat to the security of our country. The war against her is unfair and frankly senseless.

Ukraine has been and remains a country close to us. Many of us have relatives, friends and scientific colleagues living in Ukraine. Our fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers fought together against Nazism. Unleashing a war for the sake of the geopolitical ambitions of the leadership of the Russian Federation, driven by dubious historiosophical* fantasies, is a cynical betrayal of their memory.

We respect Ukrainian statehood, which rests on really working democratic institutions. We treat the European choice of our neighbors with understanding. We are convinced that all problems in relations between our countries can be resolved peacefully.

Having unleashed the war, Russia doomed itself to international isolation, to the position of a pariah country. This means that we, scientists, will no longer be able to do our job normally: after all, conducting scientific research is unthinkable without full cooperation with colleagues from other countries. The isolation of Russia from the world means further cultural and technological degradation of our country in the complete absence of positive prospects. War with Ukraine is a step to nowhere.

It is bitter for us to realize that our country, together with other republics of the former USSR, which made a decisive contribution to the victory over Nazism, has now become the instigator of a new war on the European continent. We demand an immediate halt to all military operations directed against Ukraine. We demand respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Ukrainian state. We demand peace for our countries.

Opposition to Putin’s invasion is (intensifying) on the streets of Kyiv, in world capitals, on Russia’s streets, and in Russia’s scientific institutions.

EU Science Diplomacy Alliance Letter

Here is the EU Science Diplomacy’s discussion of the letter

War has arrived in Europe once again, as this week Russia launched its military invasion of the Ukraine. Russian scientists have drafted an Open Letter condemning the senseless offensive and warning of its ramifications for the Russian scientific community and their international collaborations. Already on the second day since its publication, the letter has attracted over 600 signatures by Russian scientists.

To salute the brave signatories and authors of the letter, the Chair of the EU Science Diplomacy Alliance circulated the letter to its members along with a short message of solidarity with the Ukrainians, Russians and Europeans mourning this tragic and disorienting transgression.

The present situation of unjustified aggression against the Ukraine may lead us to doubt the meaning of our actions. How can we invest hour after hour in our research and academic exchanges when war is in Europe? I am writing these few lines to share with you the sense of disarray and my determination to overcome it. Our work, however small it may seem in such a context, is not in vain.

Science diplomacy seems derisory in the face of the brutality and cynicism deployed against our eastern neighbours in the last few days. Many questions arise and we may feel discouraged. However, it is precisely in such periods that it is necessary, more than ever, to affirm the strength of dialogue and exchange, the strength of science and cooperation. Believing and continuing remains for our collective the only option, whatever the sadness, the anguish and the feeling of powerlessness that at times can penetrate us.

Our Russian colleagues show us the way: the letter they have just signed and distributed, with admirable courage, …

By making our voices heard, InsSciDE and the EU Science Diplomacy Alliance will contribute on its own scale to make our initiatives known, with the hope that women and men of science will be empowered to contribute to a solution to the present tragedy.

Russia’s IPCC lead makes public comment

In a related action, in a remarkable rebuke to Putin, the head of the Russian delegation at an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change meeting on Sunday apologized for the invasion of Ukraine, saying “those who know what is happening fail to find any justification for the attack.”

“Let me present an apology on behalf of all Russians who were not able to prevent this conflict,” Oleg Anisimov, a climatologist at the State Hydrologic Institute in St. Petersburg, told participants. He went on:

“Human induced climate change and the war on Ukraine have the same roots: fossil fuels, and our dependence on them.”

Notes:

* Historiosophy is the perception and understanding of history and historical phenomena/events from varying Weltanschauung (worldviews).

– Evidently, scientists from non-Russian institutions have begun signing on to this letter (see the last 20 or so signatories, as of now).