The Canadian Pugwash Group (CPG) strongly condemns the unlawful attack by the armed forces of the Russian Federation on Ukraine and staunchly supports the people of Ukraine in the defence of their homeland against this armed aggression.
CPG calls on the Russian Federation to cease all hostilities and to withdraw all its forces from the territory of Ukraine.
CPG further calls on the Russian Federation to uphold its obligations under the United Nations Charter, cespecially as a permanent member of the Security Council, to resolve all disputes through peaceful means and negotiations. Diplomatic engagement can yield a settlement of this dispute, but it must proceed on the basis of a recognition of the sovereign independence of Ukraine and free from armed coercion.
CPG welcomes and urges the continued efforts by the Secretary-General, UN Member States, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and other international and regional organizations, to support de-escalation of the current situation, and also the efforts of the United Nations and humanitarian organizations to respond to the humanitarian and refugee crisis that the Russian Federation’s aggression has created.
CPG encourages all European countries through the OSCE to further refine a European security architecture based on the respect of sovereign equality and territorial integrity of all States, the renunciation of force and resolution of disputes exclusively through peaceful means.
CPG calls on all parties to work constructively in relevant international frameworks, including in the Normandy Format and Trilateral Contact Group, towards the implementation of the Minsk agreements.
CPG expresses deep concern about the indirect threat of the use of nuclear weapons invoked by the Russian President and strongly affirms that nuclear weapons should have no place in international security given the catastrophic regional and global consequences of any use of nuclear weapons.
CPG reminds all concerned of the 3 January 2022 Joint Statement by the Leaders of the Nuclear Weapon States that inter alia affirms that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought, recalling the affirmation from the 1985 Joint Soviet-United States Statement on the Summit Meeting in Geneva.
Canadian Pugwash (CPG) calls on the Government of Canada to continue its support for the people of Ukraine, to call on the Russian Federation to restore the status quo ante, and to renew through the OSCE cooperative security arrangements based on arms control and non-nuclear defence.
1 March 2022