Ukrainian Institute calls for a stop to the legitimization of a russia-centric and colonial view of Ukraine  

The Ukrainian Institute has reiterated its call to the international and Ukrainian cultural community to suspend any cooperation with the russian federation. 

«We consider this a necessary step to push back the aggressor that launched a violent and unjustified invasion against Ukraine, a sovereign and peaceful European country, and has long instrumentalised culture and soft power for political propaganda and manipulation of public opinion».

The Ukrainian Institute reiterated its request to international and Ukrainian cultural institutions and individual professionals, academic community, and civil society organizations to:

• As a sign of respect and grief, refrain from presenting, performing or promoting Russian culture and art until the war in Ukraine is over;
• Suspend Russian participation in international cultural and academic events such as festivals, biennials, exhibitions, art and literature fairs, fora, conferences etc;
• Boycott events organised by Russian institutions as well as international foundations that are directly and indirectly linked to or funded by Putin’s regime and Russian capital; 
• Cancel any cooperation with Russian artists and scholars, no matter how great or famous, as long as they supported Putin’s regime after 2014, do not acknowledge shared responsibility of Russians for the crimes of the Russian state, and have not publicly condemned the war against Ukraine;
• Remove representatives affiliated with the Russian state or Russian capital from supervisory and advisory boards of your organisations;
• Refuse any donations, funding or sponsorship from Russian organisations, their proxies and affiliates based in other countries.

«Suspension of cultural and academic cooperation with Russia shall remain in effect until Russia fully withdraws from Ukraine, including Crimea and the temporarily occupied territories in Donbas, and is held responsible for its war crimes», – the appeal says. 

The Ukrainian Institute recalled the war crimes committed by the russians in the Kyiv region, city of Mariupol and other regions of Ukraine and stressed that it is inappropriate to invite Ukrainian and Russian artists, culture makers, and scholars to participate in or perform at the same event, to encourage cooperation, dialogue, or reconciliation while the russian army keeps killing the Ukrainian people. 

«Discussions on Ukraine cannot take place without representatives of Ukrainian society», — reads the appeal.  

The Ukrainian Institute also asked that a russia-centric, imperialist, and colonial perspectives on Ukraine, its history and culture not be legitimized. 

The Ukrainian Institute (Ukrainian: Український інститут) – is a public institution of Ukraine that represents Ukrainian culture in the world and forms a positive image of Ukraine abroad. The institute was founded by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in 2017 and is affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

In early March, the Ukrainian Institute issued an appeal to boycott russia. 

Ukrainian Institute Director Volodymyr Sheiko stressed that any potential reconciliation with russia is possible only after the full withdrawal of russian troops from Ukraine and an international tribunal holds russia accountable for war crimes. 

Read also: Andrii Kurkov: There will be no discussion between Ukrainian and Russian writers as long as there is war