Statement of the Council for Foreign and Defense Policy (SWAP)
Recently, there have been statements (some of them made by members of the SWAP) which promote, albeit with many reservations, the idea of a preventive nuclear strike by Russia in the event of a negative development of the military operation in Ukraine and its adjacent territories. Those who make those statements not only speculate about the use of tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Ukraine but also propose to attack the founding members of NATO.
We are all well aware of the data from earlier and more recent studies that shows the scale of the possible consequences of nuclear war. It is highly irresponsible to rely on the hope that a limited nuclear conflict can be managed and prevented from escalating into a global nuclear war. This means that tens or even hundreds of millions of human lives in Russia, Europe, China, the United States, and other parts of the world, are at stake. It is a direct threat to the entire humankind.
Our country, devastated by this disaster, and our people, disorganized by this war, would also face the threat of losing their sovereignty under the pressure of the surviving nations of the South.
It is unacceptable to let pseudo-theoretical rhetoric and emotional statements, in the vein of the so-called talk shows, create such sentiments in the society that could lead to disastrous decisions.
These are no longer theoretical concepts. It is not only a direct threat to all of humanity, but also a very concrete proposal to kill all the people who we love and care about.
We, the members of the Council for Foreign and Defense Policy, find such statements absolutely unacceptable and condemn them unequivocally.
No one should ever blackmail humanity with the threat of a nuclear weapon attack, let alone give the order to use it in combat.
We invite all members of the SWAP to endorse this statement.
List of SWAP members who signed the Statement
| Anatoly ADAMISHIN | President of the Association for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation; Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation (former First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation; Chair of Foreign Affairs at the Russian Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation); Ph.D. |
| Alexey ARBATOV | Head of the Center for International Security at the Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO), Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS); Academician, RAS |
| Nadezhda ARBATOVA | Research Programs Director at the European Dialogues Discussion Forum; Head of the Department for European Political Studies (DEPS)t IMEMO; Ph.D. |
| Alexander BELKIN | International Projects Director at SWAP (former Assistant Under-Secretary at the State Committee on Defense and Security; Executive Vice-Director of SWAP) |
| Veronika BOROVIK-KHILTCHEVSKAYA | President of Sovershenno Sekretno Media Holding |
| Georgy BOVT | Editor-in-chief of Russky Mir.ru magazine; Ph.D. |
| Vladimir DVORKIN | Principal Researcher at IMEMO, Russian Academy of Sciences; Professor, Ph.D.; Major General (ret.) |
| Sergey DUBININ | Head of the Finance and Credit Department, National Research University – Higher School of Economics (HSE) (former President of the Central Bank of Russia); Ph.D. |
| Vitaly DYMARSKY | Editor-in-chief of Diletant history magazine |
| Vladimir ENTIN | Director of the Intellectual Property Legal Protection Center; Assistant Professor at the School of Journalism at the Moscow State Institute for International Relations (University), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation; Assistant Professor at the Department of Advocacy, MGIMO University; Ph.D. |
| Alexander GOLTS | Senior Deputy Editor-in-chief of Ezhednevny Journal online magazine |
| Vladimir GUREVICH | Editor-in-chief at Vremya Publishing House |
| Svyatoslav KASPE | Professor at the Department of General Political Science, School of Politics and Governance, HSE; Chairman of the Editorial Board of the Politeia Journal of Political Theory, Political Philosophy and Sociology of Politics; Mediator at the Politeia Research Seminar named after Aleksei Salmin |
| Lev KOSHLYAKOV | SWAP Member (former Deputy Head of the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company) |
| Ilya LOMAKIN-RUMYANTSEV | Chairman of the Board of Directors of VLM-Invest. Agency to Promote the Development of Economic Institutions; Head of Rosgosstrakh Expert Council; Ph.D. |
| Vladimir LUKIN | Professor at the HSE; Member of the Supervisory Board, International Luxembourg Forum (former Deputy Chairman of the Committee on International Relations, Council of Federation, Federal Council of Russia (Russian Senate); President of the Russian Paralympic Committee; Chairman of the Committee on International Relations and Deputy Chairman of the State Duma; Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United States of America; Commissioner on Human Rights for the Russian Federation); Ph.D. |
| Sergey MNDOYANTS | The Russian Social and Business Promotion Center (former President of the Foundation for the Development of Parliamentary); Ph.D. |
| Arkady MURASHOV | Chairman of EPPA – European Consultants |
| Alexander MUZYKANTSKY | Head of the Department of Information Support of Foreign Policy, School of World Politics at LMSU, Professor; Chairman of the Board of the Russian Social and Business Promotion Center Foundation; Ph.D. |
| Sergey OZNOBISHCHEV | Head of Division for Military-Political Analysis, IMEMO; Director, Institute for Strategic Assessments; Professor at the MGIMO University; Ph.D. |
| Vladimir RUBANOV | Research Advisor at Inteltek Center for Innovations and Information Technology; Member of the Operative Collegial Body at Skolkovo Foundation, Member of the Public Council at the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation; Research Advisor at Informexpertiza; Vice President of the League for Assistance to the Defense Enterprises of Russia (former Deputy Secretary of the Security Council of Russia) |
| Dmitry RYURIKOV | Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation (former Advisor to the President of Russia on Foreign Policy Issues) |
| Evgeny SAVOSTYANOV | CEO of METRO-NAVTIKA; Deputy Board Chairman of the Centre on Promoting Russian-American Rapprochement (former Deputy Head of the Administration of the President of Russia); Ph.D. |
| Sergey TSYPLYAEV | Plenipotentiary Representative of the St Petersburg University of Management Technologies and Economics; President of Respublika Foundation (St Petersburg); Ph.D. |
| Alexander VYSOTSKY | Director for Corporate Relations at Yandex Go |
| Igor YURGENS | Leading Researcher at the Sustainable Development Center, Professor of the Department of Risk Management and Insurance, MGIMO University; Professor at the HSE; Chairman of the Management Board of the Institute of Contemporary Development; Ph.D. |
| Alexander ZAKHAROV | Vice President of Eurofinansy Investment Company |
| Pavel ZOLOTAREV | Deputy Director of the Institute for U.S. and Canadian Studies (RAS); President of the Foundation for Support of Military Reform; Major General (retired) |