As a scholarly community with deep connections with Ukraine, Russia, and neighbouring states we are horrified by the military aggression unleashed by the Russian government against Ukraine and the terrible human tragedy unfolding as a result. Such a resort to war cannot be justified by any claims about the Ukrainian state or its people and their choices. It is an assault against their independence and self-determination, against their democratic freedoms.
We have engaged in research and academic exchanges in the region for over seventy years with the central purpose of developing a deep understanding of the countries and peoples we study. But also with the hope of developing greater mutual understanding through the collaboration and dialogue which academic and cultural relationships can foster. We will continue to support these efforts, even as wider relationships of trust and exchanges collapse, while upholding the fundamental values and principles of open societies and the sovereign rights of nations.
At this time of supreme crisis, the Russian and Eurasian Studies Centre at St Antony’s College, the Russian and East European Studies Programme and the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies express our solidarity with the people of Ukraine and all those suffering as a direct consequence of this terrible conflict.