Press Release, 16.02.2022

Chair of the Yabloko Party Gender Faction Galina Mikhaleva also signed the letter

Photo by Maxim Bogodid / RIA Novosti

We are women from the United States and Russia who are deeply concerned about the risk of imminent war between our two countries, who together possess over 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons.

We are mothers, daughters, grandmothers, and we are sisters, one to another.

Today we stand with our sisters in Ukraine, East and West, whose families and country have been torn apart, have already suffered more than 14,000 deaths.

We stand together and we call for peace and diplomacy, with respect for all.

We are united in the belief that diplomacy, dialogue, engagement and exchange are urgently needed to end the current crisis and avert a catastrophic military conflict that could spiral out of control — even push the world to the precipice of nuclear war.

For the U.S. and Russia, the only sane and humane course of action now is a principled commitment to clear, creative and persistent diplomacy— not military action.

At this perilous juncture, rather than allocate blame, we should be seeking 21st century alternatives to senseless military conflicts and wasteful spending on war. It is a time to redefine security so that women, families, and our children, can live in peace.

At a time when we find ourselves in perhaps the most dangerous moment since the Cuban Missile Crisis, we call on the media in both our countries to stop fueling the flames of war. We call on the media to fulfill their ethical responsibility as journalists to remind us of the price of war, the bloodshed and loss of human lives, to demand evidence when claims are made that can escalate tensions, and to have the courage to sound the alarm on the risk of escalation to a nuclear war that would mean the end of life as we know it.

At a time when poverty is increasing in the U.S., Ukraine and Russia, when the world collectively faces the existential threat of climate change, a pandemic that has taken 5.75 million lives and caused rising “deaths of despair,” declining life expectancy and extreme inequality, isn’t it time to think anew?

How might we seize the day and lay out a 21st century vision — that not only advances peace and security, but can unite the world — essentially a new realism? What could creative, humane diplomacy look like? If done thoughtfully, it could do more than resolve the standoff in Ukraine — it could pave the way for broader cooperation between the U.S., Russia, and Europe and beyond on climate, disarmament and more. It could lay the seeds for a new, demilitarized and shared security architecture.

We independent women, seekers of peace and security, understand the vital importance of engaging minds and hearts. We call on you to share this call for peace and urge our governments to keep talking, to pursue clear, creative and persistent diplomacy.

These are times of fear but also of hope and possibility. The world is in motion, the future is not written. As Americans and Russians, we have a compelling stake in deescalating tensions between our countries. The approach we suggest surely is more realistic, more wise, than preparing for a military conflict that could lead to unthinkable nuclear war.

We stand together and we call for peace. Stand with us.

#WomenCall4PeaceUkraine #WOMENPEACEBUILDERS #MINDFULCHERNOBYL #WOMENSAYNOTOWAR #WHEREISOURPEACEDIVIDEND #MONEYFORSCHOOLSNOTMISSILES #SISTERSAGAINSTWAR #PEACEWINS #KEEPTALKINGUKRAINE #TALKANDLISTEN

This letter was written by American and Russian women participating in a dialogue and peacebuilding initiative founded in 2021 by Women Transforming Our Nuclear Legacy and the American Committee for US-Russia Accord.

Signed,

Jackie Abramian, Writer

Dr. Susan H. Allen, Director, Center for Peacemaking Practice at George Mason University’s Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

Nadezhda Azhgikhina, Journalist, Feminist, Director, Moscow PEN, Board Member, Article 19

Natalia Bitten, Journalist and Feminist

Sandra Cline, Trustee Emerita for Biosphere Foundation, Founder and Editor of Dance of the Spirit, Writer and Novelist

Dr. Ann Frisch, Prof. Emerita University of Wisconsin Oshkosh US; Chair Rotary Action Group for Peace Nuclear Weapons Education, Rotary Peace Champion 2017

Paula Garb, PhD, Fellow, Center for Peacemaking Practice at George Mason University

Dulcie Kugelman, Center for Citizen Peacebuilding

Cynthia Lazaroff, Founder, Women Transforming Our Nuclear Legacy and NuclearWakeUpCall.Earth, Board Member, American Committee for US-Russia Accord

Sarah Lindemann-Komarova, Writer, Researcher and Activist

Olga Malutina, Artist

Eva Merkacheva, Investigative Journalist, Member of Human Rights Council of Russia

Galina Michaleva, Chairwoman of the Gender Faction, Yabloko Party, Russia

Larisa Mikhaylova, PhD, Senior Researcher at Journalism Department, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russian Society of American Culture Studies Academic Secretary

Galya Morrell, “Cold Artist,” Polar Explorer and Visual Artist, Co-Founder, Citizen Diplomacy Initiative, “Arctic Without Borders”

Marina Pislakova-Parker, Ph.D Sociology, Founder and Chair of the Board, ANNA—Center for the Prevention of Violence, Author, Researcher

Joan Porter, Community Activist

Ann Wright, Colonel, US Army and Former US Diplomat, Veterans For Peace Advisory Board Member

Karen Sperling, Author and Publisher

Svetlana Svistunova, Journalist and Filmmaker

Katrina vanden Heuvel, Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation magazine, Board Member, American Committee for US-Russia Accord

Lubov Shtyleva, Long-term President, Women’s Congress of Kola Peninsula