Čabarkapa: MASA continued cooperation with pro-Russian structures despite declarative support for Ukraine

The Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts (MASA), despite Montenegro’s publicly declared support for Ukraine following the Russian aggression, continued cooperation with structures close to regimes participating in that aggression, and the President of this institution officially visited Moscow in 2024.

This was pointed out by the program coordinator for Active Citizenship at the Centre for Civic Education (CCE) Sara Čabarkapa.

- Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine has been ongoing since February 24, 2022, while its roots go back to 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and supported separatist forces in eastern Ukraine. As early as 2014, Montenegro, following the foreign policy of the European Union, imposed sanctions on Russia, which were further expanded after the 2022 invasion. CCE recalls that on March 1, 2022, the Presidency of MASA, through a statement, expressed support for Ukrainian colleagues and appeals from the international academic community to preserve the territorial integrity and cultural identity of Ukraine, emphasizing that „it is in Montenegro’s tradition to support those who defend their home and their country, as well as the right to freely decide on their own future“. At the time of that statement, the President of MASA was Dragan Vukčević - she stated.

Čabarkapa believes that, in this context, it is very indicative that Vukčević himself participated in a session of the Council of the International Association of Academies of Sciences in Moscow in September 2024.

- Although this association was established in 1993 at the initiative of Ukrainian academician Borys Paton, the role of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine within it has significantly changed since 2014, and today the association is closely connected with the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, which is responsible for organizational and methodological support of its work. After the Russian invasion in 2022, this association, despite requests from the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, did not condemn Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, the killing of civilians, the destruction of infrastructure, or the bombing of cities, nor did it provide support to the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, which is why that academy withdrew from it - she emphasized.

Today, Čabarkapa adds, the head of the association is Vladimir Karanik, President of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus and Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus, who is under sanctions by the European Union, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Canada for his role in the repression of citizens who protested against Lukashenko in 2020.

- The association itself is institutionally and symbolically tied to the Belarusian authorities - it is part of the website of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, hosted on a domain registered to the Government of Belarus, and icons on the site link to the websites of the President of Belarus, the Government of Belarus, and other institutions - Čabarkapa stated.

According to her, the association brings together 27 academies of sciences and research centers from the post-Soviet space, China, Vietnam, Mongolia, Georgia, Cuba and - Montenegro, the only European member that was not part of the former Soviet Union.

- Given that the International Association of Academies of Sciences is a kind of post-Soviet coordination body for academies from those countries, MASA’s decision to join this association in 2018 is unusual, especially since other academies from the former Yugoslav region, with which MASA closely cooperates, are not members. The host of the meeting in Moscow attended by Dragan Vukčević was the Russian Academy of Sciences, which is also linked to support for the war in Ukraine. Vukčević was elected an academician of this association in 2019, and at the meeting in Moscow he also received formal academic insignia of this association - Čabarkapa pointed out.

The costs of his trip to Moscow, according to her claims, amounted to 759.19 euros, and the visit lasted from September 17 to 21, 2024.

- MASA did not inform the public about this trip or the award granted to Vukčević, nor does it have a report from the official trip, and the only official information related to this event in MASA’s possession is the official invitation sent to Dragan Vukčević in Russian - Čabarkapa noted.

CCE, she says, believes that institutions like the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts must consistently apply the values they publicly advocate.

- Declarative support for Ukraine loses its meaning if cooperation is simultaneously maintained with organizations close to regimes participating in its destruction. Therefore, we call on MASA to reconsider and terminate its membership in this association, following the example of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine - Čabarkapa concluded.