In response to the events of recent days and expressing support for the state of Ukraine and its people under Russian aggression, Vilnius University rector prof. Rimvydas Petrauskas and the academic community of the university address European and World leaders. The appeal calls for severing all ties with Russia and its partners supporting the aggressor and encourages providing all possible support to Ukraine.
Your Excellencies Ambassadors, Heads of State and officials of the EU and NATO,
Many politicians and academics have warned that European appeasement could lead to such a disaster that we see today in Ukraine. Europe's resistance to facing the ever more complex and escalated situation has led to Putin's decision to ignore all democratic values Europeans have cherished since World War II and the end of the USSR in 1991. Today we see people in Ukraine who have declared their interest in the same values fight for their freedom, for their country, and for their ability to remain a sovereign state. The Ukrainian people are not only fighting for all of our common values, they are dying for these values at the very moment.
As Vilnius University community and citizens of Lithuania, in the light of the unprovoked Russian war on Ukraine, we ask every democratic European country to immediately:
• Stop financing the Russian autocracy via cutting all economic ties, including discontinuing buying oil and gas, despite possible economic difficulties at home;
• Remove Russia from the SWIFT international payments system;
• Impose full-scale economic sanctions;
• Provide Ukraine with as much as possible military aid;
• Provide Ukraine with as much as possible humanitarian assistance;
Sincerely,
Prof. Rimvydas Petrauskas, Rector of Vilnius University,
on behalf of Vilnius University Community
