More than 6500 Russian architects, designers and urban planners have one open letter signed against the invasion of Russian troops in Ukraine and called for the immediate end of the violent war. The appeal started on February 26 and was posted on the website of the Russian architecture magazine until March 4 Project Russia. Now all that remains of the open letter is the title, the illustration of Picasso’s dove of peace and the statement: “Unfortunately, under the threat of criminal liability under the law that came into force today, we were forced to remove the text of the letter. We are in favor of the Peace!” Last Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law providing for draconian penalties for reporting critical of the Russian army.
In the letter from the world’s most popular online architecture magazine deceen quoted, it said: “We, the architects and urban planners of Russia, consider the invasion of Russian troops into the territory of Ukraine to be unacceptable. (…) War cannot be an instrument of politics in the 21st century.” It is now almost impossible to reconstruct who was one of the signatories. According to Russian architect and signer Ekaterina Ulitina, the deceen leaked the letter, most of those who signed lived in Russian cities. Ulitina herself works in Stockholm.
In the letter that has now been censored, the architects and urban planners pointed out how contrary the war is to their profession and to everything they stand for: “The war devalues the nature of the work of an architect and urban planner, regardless of the country they are in. (…) It violates people’s right to life, security, fulfilment, a comfortable and healthy environment – all the values that are at the core of our profession.” Meanwhile, more and more international architecture offices are stopping out of protest their projects in Russia against the Ukraine war.