Dear friends,
We are all aware of the terrible events in Ukraine.
I am writing this email to share with all of you how these terrible events involve ESIS.
On March 3, 2022, I received a letter from the Ukrainian National Group Chairman, Professor Hryhoriy Nykyforchyn, asking “ESIS to suspend any possible collaboration with Russian institutions and Russian scientists. Just words of support are not an adequate response, …”
Between March 3 and March 11, 2022, three ESIS ExCo meetings were organized online in order to decide:
- who should be in charge for such a decision (ESIS Council, ESIS ExCo, ESIS President)?
- what would the best decision be?
During the first ESIS ExCo meeting, we verified that in the ESIS Statutes there are no clauses concerning the possibility of suspending either a National Group or a member or a group of members according to any criteria (nationality, religion, sex etc). During that meeting, we decided that, considering that the matter is deeply controversial and likely to initiate an unpleasant political discussion, it was better to tackle this problem within the ESIS ExCo and, at the end of this discussion, it was the responsibility of the ESIS President to take a decision.
The ESIS ExCo unanimously agreed on this decision.
During the second ESIS ExCo meeting, we had a discussion in order to identify the possible different decisions and the possible consequences of each of them. We defined the following list of possibilities:
- to suspend both the Russian National Group (RNG) and all the Russian scientists
- to suspend only the Russian National Group
- to ask to the Russian National Group to self-suspend up to the end of the war in Ukraine
- to do nothing
We asked to Russian National Group chairman, Professor Valery Shlyannikov, to investigate the possibility of a self suspension of the Russian National Group.
Between the second and the third ExCo meetings, I received two letters from the Russian National Group chairman, Professor Valery Shlyannikov.
The first one, signed by Professor Valery Shlyannikov, described the contribution of the Russian scientists to the ESIS activities, underlying that “their presence in the ExCo and TCs is not a representative quota of their country”, and declaring that “RGF will not initiate any restrictions on the participation of Russian scientists in the activities of the Executive Committee, Council and technical committees of ESIS.”
The second one, from the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Science, declared to “consider it extremely important to reach the ceasefire and peaceful settlement through the negotiation process”.
During the third meeting (March 11, 2022) we took note of the decision of the Russian National Group and the ESIS ExCo discussed in detail the possible consequences of the different choices.
From this point on, you can find my personal considerations after the discussion in the ESIS ExCo and my decision as ESIS President.
ESIS is a small, voluntary society without political weight. An ESIS decision will not influence national directions—certainly not in the political sphere. The only consequences of this decision are on ESIS itself. No possible consequences on the terrible situation in Ukraine can be obtained by an ESIS decision.
Analyzing what has happened in recent decades, ESIS has never decided to suspend a country, or a group of members, even when the political/military situation in some countries was really dangerous. This is not the first time we have a conflict involving one or more ESIS countries and we have never previously decided to suspend a National Group or any ESIS members.
The only consequence of a suspension of the Russian National Group or, even, of all the Russian scientists would be an irreparable fracture inside ESIS with possible consequences for many years to come. When we are talking about Russian scientists we are not talking about virtual icons we can meet in a Meet or Skype meeting. We are talking about the same friends we meet at conferences, the same friends whom we share a good wine or a good coffee with. In addition, a suspension of a National Group and/or a Group of scientists would create a dangerous precedent. I am not only talking about the problem of the Statutes, but I am talking about the possibility to suspend or, even, to expel someone for his/her own nationality (or any other reason).
According to me, that it is not acceptable.
For this reason, I decided to NOT suspend the Russian National Group or the Russian scientists from ESIS.
But I want to be clear.
I condemn any war in any country.
War is simply stupid. It is the last choice of idiots.
No matter the country. No matter the nationality.
What is happening in Ukraine is unacceptable and I hope that all the scientists in ESIS will agree with me condemning a war that is creating an unacceptable number of deaths, an unacceptable number of refugees, an unacceptable degree of suffering to the Ukrainian people.
As I wrote, no alleviation of the suffering of the Ukrainian people can a consequence of this decision. I prefer to avoid cutting relationships and to leave some “bridges” open between good friends. I hope this could be a little contribution to a world that is becoming more and more crazy.
Some words for our Ukrainian friends.
Together with the ESIS ExCo, we decided to allocate up to 150,000 euros as support to our Ukrainian friends to help their families, to help their labs or, even, to help refugees or orphans. We will work with the Ukrainian group to define the best choices.
I think that this is a concrete act to a group of friends who are now in an unbelievable and unacceptable situation.
Finally, some words for our Russian friends.
DO YOUR BEST TO PUSH YOUR POLITICIANS TO STOP THE WAR.
Francesco Iacoviello
ESIS President