Support Scholars Affected by the Russian Aggression in Ukraine

Open Letter from Russian-Speaking Academic Diaspora

The ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine has led to a major humanitarian crisis. At the time of this writing, March 19, 2022, more than 3 million Ukrainians, including 1 million children, have fled to neighboring countries to escape the war. The remaining population of about 40 million is under direct attack. They need our immediate support!

Russian citizens who oppose the war are subject to arrest and persecution; over two hundred thousand are estimated to have already left their country. Many citizens of Belarus have left their own country for similar reasons.

The war has inflicted immeasurable pain on the scholarly community in Ukraine and devastation on Russian and Belarusian academics.

Support displaced Ukrainian students and scholars

In addition to offering moral support to our Ukrainian colleagues, we strive to provide them with access to laboratories and research centers across the globe. Some members of the international academic community have offered to host Ukrainian colleagues in their research facilities. The Russian academic diaspora has joined this effort, but more should be done. By supporting the careers of displaced students and scholars, we can take a tangible part in promoting the rapid rebuilding of post-war Ukraine and mitigating the socio-economic impacts of this war.

Emergency funding is needed to enable participating laboratories and research centers across the EU, US, Canada, Japan, South Korea, and other countries to provide on-site and remote training and job opportunities for displaced students and scholars from Ukraine. Some have been displaced, together with their dependents and close relatives, young and old, and we need immediate solutions to keep their families together. Concerted efforts should be made without delay to create short and long-term fellowships and to provide visa support, rapid immigration procedures, and travel assistance.

Support Russian and Belarusian students and scholars

We need to distinguish between the sanctions on the Russian government and how we treat Russian students and scholars who oppose the war. The war in Ukraine is Putin’s war, not theirs. People in the sciences and the humanities have consistently opposed Putin’s repressive regime in multiple ways since long before the current events and many have taken a brave stance against the war. Anti-war protesters in Russia, mostly young professionals, are being arrested and can be imprisoned for up to 15 years under a recently enacted Russian law.

With the growing suppression of free speech in Russia and the impact of Western sanctions, anti-war Russian students and scholars are in double jeopardy. The same applies to Belarusian scholars suffering under the Lukashenko regime.

Some of these scholars remain in their countries; others have chosen to flee. We strongly encourage all our colleagues to keep their individual connections to Russian and Belarusian professionals who oppose the war but cannot leave the country for various reasons. As for those fleeing Russia and Belarus in fear of state persecution, they qualify for refugee status and need support from academe and governments.

We call on the international academic community to commit our time and effort to support Ukrainian, Russian, and Belarussian scholars affected by this war. Together we must help those in need to continue their work and education and ultimately build a better future for their countries and humankind. If you want to support the call made on behalf of the Russian-speaking academic diaspora, even if you do not speak Russian, you can add your signature using the google form: https://forms.gle/Bo2Ppa9Lgrr96sQf8.

1. Natalia Berloff, mathematician, University of Cambridge, UK

2. Michail Bezrodnyj, philologist, University of Heidelberg, Germany

3. Alexandra Boltasseva, electrical engineer, Purdue University, USA

4. Mark Borodovsky, computational biologist, Georgia Tech, USA

5. Tatiana Bronich, chemist, Northeastern University, USA

6. Dmitry Bykov, writer, Cornell University, USA

7. Maria Chekhova, physicist, Max-Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Germany

8. Leonid Chernomordik, biologist, National Institutes of Health, USA

9. Yury Chernoff, biologist, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA

10. Konstantin Chumakov, Director, Global Virus Network Center of Excellence, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, USA

11. Alexander Dizhoor, neuroscientist, Salus University, USA

12. Irina Dubinina, slavic scholar, Brandeis University, USA

13. Igor Efimov, biophysicist, George Washington University, USA

14. Grigori Enikolopov, neurobiologist, Stony Brook University, USA

15. Sergei Erofeev, sociologist, Rutgers University, USA, Polish Institute of Advanced Studies, Poland

16. Pavel Etingof, mathematician, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

17. Alexander Etkind, historian, European University, Italy

18. Mikhail Epstein, cultural scholar, Emory University, USA

19. Valery Fokin, chemist, University of Southern California, USA

20. Andre Geim, physicist, University of Manchester, UK

21. Vadim Gladyshev, biochemist, Harvard University, USA

22. Yury Gogotsi, materials scientist, Drexel University, USA

23. Dmitry Gordenin, geneticist, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, NIH

24. Andrei Gudkov, oncology researcher, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, USA

25. Sergei Guriev, economist, Sciences Po, Paris, France

26. Olga Gursky, biophysicist, Boston University School of Medicine, USA

27. Oleg Itskhoki, economist, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

28. Misha Ivanov, physicist, Max-Born Institute and Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany

29. Alexander Kabanov, chemist, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA

30. Mikhail Kats, applied physicist, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

31. Mikhail Katsnelson, physicist, Radboud University, Netherlands

32. Eugene Koonin, biologist, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, USA

33. Dmitry Korkin, computational biologist, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, USA

34. Yury Korolev, mathematician, University of Cambridge, UK

35. Igor Kramnik, immunologist, Boston University, USA

36. Alex Krasnok, physicist, Florida International University, USA

37. Anna Krichevsky, neurobiologist, Harvard University, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, USA

38. Andrei Linde, physicist, Stanford University, USA

39. Mark Lipovetsky, philologist, Columbia University, USA

40. Natalia Litchinitser, physicist, Duke University, USA

41. Sergei Maslov, computational and systems biologist, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA

42. Olga Matich, philologist, University of California Berkeley, USA

43. Ruslan Medzhitov, immunologist, Yale University, USA

44. Igor Mel’čuk, linguist, Universite Quebec a Montreal, Canada

45. Slava Mukhanov, physicist, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany

46. Dmitry Murzin, chemical engineer, Abo Akademi University, Finland

47. Mikhail Nikiforov, molecular biologist, Duke University, USA

48. Konstantin Novoselov, physicist, National University of Singapore, USA

49. Dmitri Orlov, aerospace engineer, University of California San Diego, USA

50. Vadim Paperny, artist, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

51. Alexej Pashkin, physicist, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Germany

52. Aneta Pavlenko, linguist, University of Oslo, Norway

53. Pavel Pevzner, computational biologist, University of California, San Diego, USA

54. Maria Polinsky, linguist, University of Maryland, USA

55. Natalia Rapoport, chemist, University of Utah, USA

56. Irina Rish, computer scientist, University of Montreal, and Mila – Quebec AI Institute, Canada

57. Alexander Rudensky, immunologist, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, USA

58. Roald Sagdeev, physicist, University of Maryland, USA

59. Irina Sekerina, cognitive scientist, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA

60. Denis Seletskiy, physicist, Polytechnique Montréal, Canada

61. Vladimir Shalaev, physicist, Purdue University, USA

62. Dmitri N. Shalin, sociologist, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA

63. Stanislav Shvabrin, slavist, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA

64. Olga Smirnova, physicist, Max-Born Institute and Technical University, Berlin, Germany

65. Konstantin Sonin, economist, University of Chicago, USA

66. Svetlana Sukhishvili, materials scientist, Texas A&M University, USA

67. Shamil Sunyaev, geneticist, Harvard University, USA

68. Tatiana Tatarinova, computational biologist, University of La Verne, USA

69. Vasily Temnov, physicist, CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique, France

70. Dmitry Turchinovich, physicist, Bielefeld University, Germany

71. Lyubov Titova, physicist, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, USA

72. Alexander Tropsha, computational chemist, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA

73. Vitaly Vanchurin, physicist, National Institutes of Health, USA

74. Peter Vorobieff, mechanical engineer, applied mathematician, University of New Mexico, USA

75. Tatiana Yankelevich Bonner, former director, Sakharov Program on Human Rights, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University, USA

76. Efim Zelmanov, mathematician, University of California, San Diego, USA

77. Ariel Zhitnitsky, physicist, University of British Columbia, Canada

78. Alexander Zholkovsky, philologist, University of Southern California, USA

79. Andrei Zorin, Cultural Historian, University of Oxford, UK

All signatories have signed as private individuals.

A partial list of prior statements of Russian-speaking scholars against the war in Ukraine

● An open letter of Russian scientists and science journalists against the war in Ukraine (published 02/24/2022, over 8000 signatories)

https://t-invariant.org/2022/02/we-are-against-war/

● Stop the war! A declaration of the Russian-speaking academic diaspora (published 02/25/2022, over 500 signatories) https://docs.google.com/document/d/16kHjs3nwWM4Qb_c0OAZbNb6cH74cwaWDvuOzi7gzwXs/mobilebasic

● Community of the Moscow State University against the war (over 7000 alumni, students & faculty signatories, names now hidden because of retaliation) https://msualumniagainstwar.notion.site/0378ab0a0719486181781e8e2b360180

● An open letter from students-members of the list "Talents of Russia" of the Presidential Fund "Talent and Success" to the President of the Russian Federation V. V. Putin https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1kH4Z9KhsGSax1Xa8IQ2rB5uqCrp_h7t63W1_ZwLoKUc/mobilebasic

● Health Scientists From the Former USSR Working in the United Stated Call to Stop Russia’s Criminal War Against Ukraine https://sciprotest.com/

Scholars who joined this open letter after its publication on March 20, 2020.

1. Roman Abel Postdoctoral Researcher for Psychology of Education Ruhr University Bochum Deutschland

2. Fatimakhon Ahmedova Kandidat Phil.Nauk N/A UK

3. Evgeny Akhmedov physicist Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik Germany

4. Linar Akhmetzyanov MSCA postdoc researcher Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville Spain

5. Anna Alexandrova Professor of philosophy University of Cambridge United Kingdom

6. Maria Arbatskaya economics professor Emory University USA

7. Vitaliy Avrutin Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering Virginia Commonwealth University United States

8. Stanislav Babak astrophysics CNRS France

9. Andrey Bagrov Assistant professor of physics Radboud University Netherlands

10. Yuri Bakhtin Professor of Mathematics Courant Institute, NYU USA

11. Vladislav Balagura physicist LLR, CNRS / École polytechnique France

12. Anna Baydova Curatorial fellow Bibliothèque nationale de France France

13. Colleen Beck Physician Université Toulouse 3 France

14. Vasily Belokurov astrophysicist University of Cambridge UK

15. Helena Berezin Ph.D in psychology Private clinic Israel

16. Alain Blanchard Professor of astrophysics Université Paul Sabatier France

17. Jonathan Bobaljik Professor of Linguistics Harvard University United States

18. Lena Borise linguist Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics Hungary

19. Sergey Bozhevolnyi physicist University of Southern Denmark Denmark

20. Dina Brun Linguist Southern Connecticut State University USA

21. Sergey Budaev biologist University of Bergen Norway

22. Nataliya Budaeva associate professor in biology University of Bergen, Norway Norway

23. Pavel Cherkashin Investor in scientific research Mindrock Institute USA

24. Anna Chrabaszcz psycholinguistics University of Pittsburgh United States

25. GLATTLI Christian Physicist, Director of Research CEA Saclay FRANCE

26. Carmen Codoñer professor of Latin Philology University of Salamanca Salamanca (Spain)

27. Shay Covo Researcher of fungal genetics Hebrew U Israel

28. Stephen Cowley Senior Lecturer in Mathematics University of Cambridge United Kingdom

29. Marko Demantowsky Professor of Public History University of Vienna Austria

30. Tim Dokchitser mathematician University of Bristol United Kingdom

31. Yuri Dokshitzer physicist, DRHE emeritus CNRS, France Latvia

32. Stanley Dubinsky Linguistics University of South Carolina United States

33. ARTHUR Duhé politics Université Paris 8 France

34. Mariia Dvoriashyna Research Associate University of Cambridge United Kingdom

35. Stephen Eglen Professor of Computational Neuroscience University of Cambridge UK

36. Kapitolina Fedorova Professor of Russian Studies Tallinn University Estonia

37. William Fierman Professor Emeritus, Central Eurasian Studies Indiana University (Bloomington) United States

38. Sergey Frolov professor in mathematics Trinity College Dublin Ireland

39. Sofya Garushyants computational biologist National Library of Medicine, NIH USA

40. Alexander Gasparian biologist University of South Carolina USA

41. Vladimir Gelfand Professor of Cell Biology Northwestren University United States

42. Siddharth Ghosh Research Fellow - Mathematical Physics University of Cambridge UK

43. Richard Gill Professor of mathematics University of Leiden Netherlands

44. Valeriy Ginzburg Polymer physicist Michigan State University United States

45. Olzan Goldstein PhD in Physics and Mathematics Kaye Academic College of Education, Israel Israel

46. Katherine Grayson Postdoc in mathematics University of Cambridge United Kingdom

47. Olga Grechukhina Physician, Maternal-Fetal Medicine, OBGYN Yale University United States

48. François Gueyffier professor of pharmacology University of Lyon 1 France

49. Anna Guller experimental pathologist and biophysicist Macquarie University, Australia Australia

50. Stefan Heßbrüggen-Walter Independent scholar Independent scholar Germany

51. Michael Hitrik Mathematician UCLA United States

52. Herbert Huppert Professor of Theoretical Geophysics University of Cambridge United Kingdom

53. Jean-Marc Idée Pharmacologist self-employed France

54. Arieh Iserles Professor of Applied Mathematics University of Cambridge United Kingdom

55. Sergei Iskakov physicist University of Michigan USA

56. Maria Ivanova research scientist University of California Berkeley United States

57. Natalia Ivanova Professor of Physics University of Alberta Canada

58. Askold Ivantchik Historian CNRS France

59. Oleksandra Ivashchenko Clinical Medical Physicist in Imaging Leiden University Medical Center Netherlands

60. Andrey Kalinichev professor of chemistry Institut Mines-Télécom Atlantique France

61. Georgy Kantor ancient historian University of Oxford United Kingdom

62. Jean-Claude Kaplan Professor of medical molecular genetics (retired) UNIVERSITY OF PARIS (retired) France

63. Darya Kavitskaya Associate Professor of Linguistics University of California Berkeley United States

64. Alexander Kel CSO Genexplain GmbH Germany

65. Adrian Kent Professor of Quantum Physics University of Cambridge U.K.

66. Alexander Khitun Rsearch Professor University of California Riverside USA

67. Dmitri Kireev Professor University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill United States of America

68. Anastasiia Klimashevskaia PhD candidate, computer science University of Bergen Norway

69. Sergei Kopeikin Professor of astronomy University of Missouri USA

70. Grigori Korchemsky physicist CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay France

71. Natalia Korotkova microbiologist University of Kentucky USA

72. Irina Kortchemski Professeur de mathématiques Université Paris-Cergy, CY Tech France

73. Andrei Kotousov Professor of Mechanical Engieering The University of Adelaide Australia

74. Igor Kovalchuk Professor of Biology University of Lethbridge Canada

75. Olga Kovalchuk Professor, Biological Sciences University of Lethbridge Canada

76. Dmitri Krioukov physicist Northeastern University United States

77. Dina Kronhaus Wellcome Trust Research Fellow University of Cambridge United Kingdom

78. Valentina Kuskova Director, Notre Dame AnalytiXIN site at Indianapolis University of Notre Dame USA

79. Elena Kuzmin Assistant Professor, Department of Biology Concordia University Canada

80. Elena Laricheva Assistant Professor of Chemistry Utah Valley University USA

81. Jonas Latz Assistant Professor Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh United Kingdom

82. Adrien Lefauve Researcher in Applied Mathematics University of Cambridge United Kingdom

83. Martin Lenz Professor of Philosophy University of Groningen The Netherlands

84. Vadim Levin geophysicist Rutgers University USA

85. Alexander Ljubimov Professor of Medicine UCLA United States

86. Maxim Lutikov, Professor of Physics, Purdue U, USA

87. Herve Maisonneuve Public health physician Consultant France

88. René Meyer Lecturer in Physics Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg Germany

89. Sergiy Minko Professor of polymeric materials University of Georgia USA

90. Vadym Mochalin Professor of Chemistry and Materials Science & Engineering Missouri University of Science & Technology United States of America

91. Nadia Moro High School Teacher (Humanities), former Assistant Professor Italian Ministry of Education. Previously: Higher School of Economics, Moscow Italy

92. Olga Moroz Structural biologist University of York UK

93. ERIC Naiman Professor of Comparative Literature and Slavic Languages and Literatures University of California, Berkeley United States

94. Aliide Naylor Journalist & Author Freelance United Kingdom

95. Gennady Nikitin postdoc University of Bergen Norway

96. Irina Novikova Professor of physics William&Mary USA

97. Maxim Olshanskii professor of mathematics University of Houston United States

98. Alexander Osipov political scientist independent scholar Germany

99. Winfried Peters Professor emeritus of Biology (Purdue University Fort Wayne) Washington State University, Pullman USA

100. Olga Petrova Structural biologist IST Austria Austria

101. Pyotr Platinov Professor of cardiology Lund University Sweden

102. Ekaterina Pomerantseva materials scientist Drexel University USA

103. Dmitry Ponomarev Postdoc Vienna University of Technology Austria

104. Oleg Pronin Professor of laser technology Helmut Schmidt University Germany

105. Tatiana Pyatina Naterials scientist Brookhaven National Laboratory United States

106. Roman Rafikov Professor of Astrophysics University of Cambridge UK

107. Julia Rashba-Step Scientist, pharmaceuticals Phosphorex United States

108. Konstantin Ratcer film director nanofilmstudio (Los Angeles) USA

109. Elena Reznik Teacher of German as a second language Internationaler Bund Germany

110. Lara Ryazanova-Clarke linguist The University of Edinburgh United Kingdom

111. Maria Sachkova Postdoc in Biology University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway Norway

112. Andrei Sandomirskii Student of NSU BINP SB RAS Russia

113. Rocco Santoro lead researcher - senior statistician University of Perugia Italy

114. Elena Schmitt professor of Applied Linguistics Southern Connecticut State University United States

115. Sergei Shandarin professor of Physics and Astronomy University of Kansas USA

116. Irina Shilova Microbiology Second Genome USA

117. Sergey Shugarov Researcher, astronomy, Dr. Slovakia, Academy of Sciences Slovakia

118. Valentina Shumakova Postdoc, laser physics Technical University of Vienna Austria

119. Anna Shvarts Researcher in mathematics education Utrecht University Netherlands

120. Rostyslav Sipakov Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences Construction company United States

121. Alexandre Smirnov biochemist CNRS France

122. Kyrylo Snizhko physicist CEA Grenoble France

123. Alexander Sobolev Professor of geochemistry University Grenoble Alpes France

124. Nadia Sosnowsky-Waschek Professor of Psychology SRH University of Applied Sciences Heidelberg Germany

125. Perla Sousi Professor of mathematics University of Cambridge United Kingdom

126. John Sutton computer officer University of Cambridge United Kingdom

127. Andrey Timokhin astrophysicist University of Zielona Gora Poland

128. Irina Tiurikova PhD Candidate University of Bergen Norway

129. Bilyana Tomova PhD student in Theoretical Physics University of Cambridge United Kingdom

130. Natalia Tristan Head of European Service (scientific equipment) Quantum Design Europe Germany

131. Maxim Tsarev physics, post-doc University of Konstanz Germany

132. Natalia Tšuikina Assoc.prof.of Russian Tallinn University Estonia

133. Vladimir Tsukruk Professor Georgia Tech USA

134. Sergei Turitsyn professor Aston University Uk

135. Arkady Vainshtein physicist, Professor Emeritus University of Minnesota US

136. Stefano van Gogh PhD student Biomedical Engineering ETH Zurich Switzerland

137. Dmytro Varavin PhD Construction Company USA

138. Alexandre Varnek professor in theoretical chemistry University of Strasbourg France

139. Petr Vetrov PhD, Electronic hardware designer DESY, Germany Germany

140. Dmytro Volin Physics Uppsala University Sweden

141. Mikhail Volkov physicist University of Konstanz Germany

142. Peter Vorobieff Regents' Professor and Associate Chair University of New Mexico USA

143. Clive Wells Mathematician/Theoretical Physicist University of Cambridge (Hughes Hall) UK

144. Vasily Yarnykh Professor of Radiology University of Washington United States

145. Oleh Yermakov physicist V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University Ukraine

146. Gleb Yushin professor of materials science Georgia Institute of Technology USA

147. Kirill Zatrimaylov Theoretical physicist Freelance researcher (PhD from Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa) Италия

148. Alexander Zholents Scientist Argonne National Laboratory US

149. Sergei Shandarin USA professor of Physics and Astronomy University of Kansas USA

150. Guenakh Mitselmakher USA Professor of Physics University of Florida USA

151. Michel Goossens France Honorary professor of genetics Retired France

152. Kirill Chepurin Germany Doctoral student Humboldt University of Berlin Germany

153. Dmitry Sushkov Estonia DBA Aviation, maintenance technology Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Florida, USA Estonia

154. Nikita Latynov Россия Engineer Mobile Clinics, ltd Россия

155. Alex Gurevich USA physicist Old Dominion University USA

156. Sergei Shandarin professor of Physics and Astronomy University of Kansas USA

157. Guenakh Mitselmakher Professor of Physics University of Florida USA

158. Michel Goossens Honorary professor of genetics Retired France

159. Kirill Chepurin Doctoral student Humboldt University of Berlin Germany

160. Nina Kazanina Psychology University of Bristol United Kingdom

161. Leonid Zhigilei materials scientist University of Virginia United States

162. Vera Serganova Professor of mathematics UC Berkeley United States

163. Сергей Аведисов биолог США

164. Станислав Станских Конституционалист США

165. Olga Shishkina mathematician, physicist Germany

166. Alexander Zholents Physicist USA

167. Полина Мещерякова Биолог Россия

168. Рамиль Хуснутдинов Фармацевт, молекулярный биолог Россия

169. Mark Berenfeld PhD, chemist USA

170. Оксана Бондаренко Экономист Россия

171. Мария Булычева Экономист США

172. Феликс Израйлев физик Мексика

173. Алексей Орлов Физик США

174. Алина Самарская химик Польша

175. Александра Жернакова генетик Нидерланды