Taking a stand for peace
In a brave move, which could lead to jail time for those involved, nearly 8,000 Russian based scientists and scientific journalists have signed an open letter to call for the end to the invasion of Ukraine.
Originally available on the trv-science.ru website, it had to be removed once new censorship laws came into place, putting those who had signed at heightened risk.
“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”.
The letter continues and can be read in full on The European Times website. Largely the creation of one man, Mikhail Gelfand of the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology near Moscow, Mikhail said he hoped the letter would achieve three aims:
“One, to demonstrate that the Russian scientific community is not the same as the Russian leadership. Second thing is to demonstrate to our Ukrainian colleagues that we object to what our government is doing, and we are doing what we can to stop it. And the third thing, to demonstrate the same to the international community in the hope that any actions to punish Russia are weighted in such a way as to not to punish the very people who object to what Russia is doing”.
The science community is united in condeming the Russian invasion, destruction of Ukraine and the senseless loss of life on both sides.
Let us hope that this terrible event comes to an end quickly and scientific collaboration can be part of the healing process between peoples.