A Russian climate delegate apologized to his Ukrainian counterparts and other government officials on Sunday for the ongoing and deadly invasion, which he decried as wholly unwarranted.
“First of all, let me thank Ukraine and present an apology on behalf of all Russians who were not able to prevent this conflict,” Oleg Anisimov, the head of Russia’s delegation to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said during a private virtual meeting.
“All of those who know what is happening fail to find any justification for this attack against Ukraine,” added Anisimov, a scientist at the state hydrological institute in St. Petersburg. “Since we are dealing with scientific issues, we have huge admiration for the Ukrainian delegation that was able to still do its work.”
Anisimov’s remarks, which attendees hailed as courageous and moving, came after Ukraine’s delegation to the IPCC was forced to briefly depart a meeting Thursday due to Russia’s attack, which has thus far killed an estimated 350 civilians and heightened the risk of a catastrophic nuclear war.
According to one human rights organization, thousands of Russian anti-war demonstrators have been arrested in recent days during demonstrations against the invasion.
The Daily Beast characterized Anisimov’s comments as “possibly the first instance of a Moscow official speaking out against the invasion.”
Government delegates to the IPCC gathered Sunday to put the finishing touches on the body’s latest scientific report, which is expected to show that the human-caused climate crisis is accelerating, sparking devastating extreme weather across the globe.
The report is set to be published early Monday.
Svitlana Krakovska, the leader of Ukraine’s delegation to the IPCC, reportedly used her remarks at Sunday’s IPCC meeting to link war and the climate emergency.
“Human-induced climate change and the war on Ukraine have the same roots — fossil fuels and our dependence on them,” Krakovska said, according to another government delegate in attendance.
Krakovska also reportedly voiced dismay that the IPCC’s vitally important findings will have to “compete for media space with war.”
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.