The Council expresses solidarity with the scientific community and people of Ukraine

The Research Council of Lithuania condemns the hostilities against the Ukrainian state and citizens. The attack on Ukraine is unjustifiable and must be met with solid consequences for the infringement on its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

In solidarity with the Ukrainian scientific community, the Council is considering possible actions in supporting Ukrainian researchers, such as a possibility of granting them an asylum in Lithuania to continue their research, and reviewing the implementation of international agreements on fostering cooperation between researchers and joint research involving Russia and Belarus.

Taking into consideration the research community, in a country under aggression, first we think about partners in joint Lithuanian-Ukrainian projects. The Council invites Lithuanian researchers involved in these projects to maintain contact with their partners in Ukraine - this is our opportunity to not only express our support, but also fully understand the needs of the research community on the ground.

The Council has contacted coordinators of the European Union Joint Programming Initiative on "Cultural Heritage and Global Change - New Challenges for Europe" with a suggestion to suspend Belarus' participation in the upcoming call for proposals. The Council also expressed its position not to support the joint projects of this initiative with Belarusian partners in the consortium. The Council also proposed to the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of the Republic of Lithuania to terminate the bilateral Lithuanian-Belarusian cooperation programme in science and technology.

The Council is sharing these proposed actions with other international research councils, in particular the Latvian and Estonian counterparts. Our strength, especially nowadays, is to act together and show solidarity with Ukraine.