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INVITATION TO A DISCUSSION AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Russian-Americans and Ukrainian-Americans on the threat of war against Ukraine

STATEMENT
by Ukrainian-Americans and Russian-Americans in New York                                        March 1, 2014

As leaders of our organizations and members of Ukrainian-American and Russian-American communities, we unequivocally condemn the Russian authorities’ military action in Ukraine. This action is fraught with catastrophic consequences for the civilian population of both countries and for the rest of the region. We call upon the Russian authorities to immediately cease all military activities on the territory of Ukraine and enter into diplomatic negotiations with the new Ukrainian government on all issues of mutual concern.

As members of our diaspora communities, we see it as our responsibility to help advance mutual understanding and collaboration among all those Russians and Ukrainians who believe in their countries’ shared European future and in helping each other build vibrant democratic societies respectful of the rights of all their citizens, including ethnic, linguistic, and religious minorities. We call for the creation of a permanent roundtable of Ukrainian and Russian communities and their organizations in the US. The purpose of this roundtable would be to act as a vehicle of grassroots diplomacy, initiate collective action against the threats of war and warmongering, advance mutual understanding and respect, as well as the understanding of both communities in American society, raise funds for the needs of the civilians who may suffer in the current confrontation in Ukraine, and generate and implement practical proposals for Russian-Ukrainian collaboration on our joint path toward a peaceful, democratic integration into the international community.

Andrew Grigorenko,
General Petro Grigorenko Foundation

Dmitri Glinski,
American Russian-Speaking Association for Civil & Human Rights

Oksana Lytvyn, Valentina Bardakova,
Razom for Ukraine

Pavel Ivlev,
Committee for Russian Economic Freedom

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