The aggressive invasion of foreign armies into the independent territory of Ukraine led CZU on 28th February 2022 to a decision to stop cooperation with universities in the Russian Federation and later in Belarus. This decision concerns all cooperation that presupposed the use of CZU resources. In the event that the cooperation used resources from the European Commission or Czech national sources (e.g., GACR), the relationship with universities in the mentioned countries will follow the measures of these providers, with whom we are contractually bound. However, it is clear that at least the interruption of this cooperation will be applied even here. In all cases, the only ethically justified form of interaction with universities in Russia and Belarus is one that disseminates truthful information about events in Ukraine. With our position, we want to prevent the Russian disinformation machinery talking about the exclusion of Russian students from European universities or the refusal to publish Russian articles in international professional journals. That is why we do not shy away from supporting those academics and students at the universities whose superiors or state institutions will persecute for disagreeing with the Putin administration's approach to Ukraine, or even those who publicly disagree.
prof. Ing. Petr Sklenička, CSc.
Rector