Dear President Trump:
We, the undersigned American Fulbright students, scholars and alumni who have served as cultural ambassadors to Ukraine are writing to urge you not to sign an executive order that would lift sanctions on Russia for its aggressive, illegal actions in this country.
The purpose of the Fulbright program is to promote mutual understanding between the United States and countries all over the world. We came to Ukraine as teachers, researchers, and experts, but will leave having learned as much as, if not more than we taught.
Sanctions work
Checking Russian aggression in Ukraine with financial penalties has stopped the Kremlin from advancing its hybrid forces in the east, and has given Russia a clear signal that there are consequences to breaking the rules of the international order. We write this letter from Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, which has not heard the explosions and gunfire so common in the east. Indeed, since the Revolution of Dignity three years ago, a time when Ukrainians died in fiery street battles in defense of a future in which they could be free of the corrupting forces of a government that gave in to authoritarian Russia, the city has witnessed a rise in entrepreneurial activity and the growth of civil society. All over the country, from our posts, we see that most of Ukraine is peaceful and stable. Without sanctions, this might not be the case.
Ukraine has made progress
Despite fighting a war that has cost precious monetary resources and over 10,000 military and civilian lives, Ukraine has managed to stabilize its economy; the World Bank projects 2% GDP growth in the coming year. Thanks in large part to the support and engagement of the United States and other Western allies, it is making slow but steady progress in the fight against corruption. In some parts of the country, the government created a new police force to replace an institution that would regularly extract bribes from Ukraine’s poorest citizens. And this fall, in an unprecedented regulation that western governments including our own could learn from, over 100,000 high-level Ukrainian public servants including the President and Prime Minister publicly disclosed their assets, the first step among many to stamp out corruption in the government itself.
Ukrainian people have spirit
Our students, coworkers, and newfound friends are all highly educated, motivated people who embrace values true to the American ethos: the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Many of them have dedicated themselves to public service because they believe in Ukraine’s future. They want to be a part of the reforms that carry Ukraine to European integration and forge a life of stability and security for their children and grandchildren. In addition to being a retaliatory measure, sanctions are in place to support these shared ideals, and to support the development of Ukraine into a fully free state that is ruled by law rather than a corrupt, Russian-backed oligarchy.
Many of us have also worked and studied in Russia and harbor a deep love and respect for the country, its people, and its culture. We would like nothing more than to see our country have a productive relationship with Moscow. But this must not be done at the expense of the 10,000 Ukrainian citizens who lost their lives in a war that Russia perpetrated, at the expense of the nearly 2 million residents of the illegally annexed Crimean peninsula who lack basic services and suffer regular human rights abuses at the hands of the Kremlin, or at the expense of over 45 million Ukrainians who have the right to determine their own alliances.
Lifting Russian sanctions is not in US interests
It would signal to Russia that, at its own expense, the United States is willing to make space for Moscow at the head of the diplomatic table. It would run explicitly against the American ideals of freedom, equality, and democracy that we as Fulbrighters came to Ukraine to represent and promote. They are values for which Americans and Ukrainians alike have lost their lives and which the Kremlin flagrantly disregards.
If cooperation with Russia is to be pursued, we implore that it not be at the expense of Ukraine. Sanctions on Russia must be maintained until it meets the terms of the Minsk Agreement and returns Crimea to Ukraine.
Signed,
Nadina Anderson 2014-15 (Research)
John Biersack, 2011-12 (Research)
Charles Bonds (Research)
Irena Chalupa, 2015-16 (Scholar)
Dennis Chamberlin 2016-17 (Scholar)
Austin Charron, 2008-09 (Research)
Beth Ciaravolo, 2012-13 (English Teaching Assistant, ETA), 2016-17 (Research)
Benjamin Cohen, 2016-17 (Research)
Luke Drabyn, 2015-16 (Research)
Trevor Erlacher, 2014-15 (Research)
Tamara Fedoryshyn 2008-09 (Research)
Carolyn Forstein, 2011-12 (Research)
Anne Giocondini 2014-2015 (ETA)
Sarah ‘Daley’ Harris 2010-2011 (Research)
Kaley Hanenkrat 2011-12 (Research)
Christi Anne Hofland, 2008-09 (Research)
John Hofland 1995 (Scholar)
Nina Jankowicz, 2016-17 (Public Policy)
Christina Jarymowycz, 2015-16 (Research)
Lisle Jeremiah Kauffman 2011, 2014-2016 (Scholar)
Anna Khandros (ETA Tajikistan) 2014-15
Talia Lavin, 2012-13 (Fellow)
Sophie Lazar, 2016-17 (ETA)
Grace Mahoney 2014-2015 (Research)
Jack Margolin, 2016-17 (ETA)
Isabel Meigs, 2016-17 (ETA)
Linda Norris, 2009-2010 (Scholar) and 2014 (Specialist)
Amelia Oliver 2015-16 (ETA)
Lara Palmquist 2015-2016 (ETA)
Abigail Poeske 2014-2015 (ETA)
Peter Rakowsky 2014-15 (Research)
Alexis Ramos, 2015-16 (Public Policy)
Cheryl Reed, 2016-17 (Scholar)
Zoe Ripecky 2015-16 (Research)
Megan Ritchey, 2010-11 (Research)
Jonathan Sanchez Leos, 2015-16 (Public Policy)
Julie Seidman 2016-17 (ETA)
Kathryn Stecyk 2010-2011 (Research)
Cynthia Sularz, 2016-17 (ETA)
Tye Sundlee, 2008-2009 (Research)
Virlana Tkacz 2015-16 (Scholar)
Michele Vazquez 2015-2016 (Scholar)
Sofika Zielyk 2014-15 (Scholar)
The opinions in this letter do not represent the views of the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State.
