On February 24, 2022, the Russian leadership, led by Vladimir Putin, launched an aggressive invasion of Ukraine. The whole world looks upon this as a war crime committed by the entire Russian nation.

As citizens of the Russian Federation, we have found ourselves responsible, against our will, for the violation of international law, the military invasion, and the loss of life on a massive scale. This crime is so terrible that there is no place for silence or passive dissent.

For people who were brought up on the idea of liberating the world from Nazism, a war of conquest is the most horrible and shameful thing that could possibly happen. The act of not resisting such a war constitutes complicity and active opposition is the only legitimate reaction.

The Anti-War Committee of Russia is based on a simple but very important principle. There is a clear difference between Russians – involuntary participants in Putin’s adventures – and those who consciously help the Putin regime in fratricidal aggression.

We are morally responsible for the fact that we could not prevent the war, that we allowed the unprovoked attack of Russian troops on a neighboring country. Direct participants in the invasion, the generals who devised the plan and the Russian leadership, should be considered war criminals. They must all be punished for their deeds, both individually and as a group. Their crimes should have no statute of limitations, and they must be punished accordingly, no matter how long the world and their victims may have to wait.

The Anti-War Committee of Russia appeals to governments of the world to take a firm position on violators of international law.

The Anti-War Committee calls on all patriots of Russia to unite in the fight against the aggressive dictatorship of Vladimir Putin regardless of their political or ideological differences and personal preferences.

Members of the Anti-War Committee of Russia:

• Mikhail Khodorkovsky, businessman, philanthropist
• Garry Kasparov, politician, 13th world chess champion
• Sergei Aleksashenko, economist
• Sergei Guriev, economist
• Yuri Pivovarov, historian, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences
• Yevgeny Kiselev, journalist
• Vladimir Kara-Murza, politician, historian
• Dmitry Gudkov, politician
• Boris Zimin, businessman
• Yevgeny Chichvarkin, businessman
• Viktor Shenderovich, writer