Siberian Mammoth Researchers Denounce Putin

Nothing good has come of Putin’s misadventure in Ukraine. Besides the toll on human life, the war has destroyed or damaged zoos and animal shelters, damaged terrestrial and marine ecosystems, and upended the lives of all species caught in the crossfire. It has also severely disrupted scientific research – in Russia.

The journal Nature reported on the devastating effects of the war on research as collaborations among Russian scientists and their international colleagues have collapsed, resulting in canceled fieldwork and worse.

The scientific community is especially dismayed because Russia has been the center of some of the greatest archaeological and palaeontological finds in recent years, “including the discovery of Denisovans, an ancient hominin group found in a Siberian cave and described in 2010.” 

There have been incredible discoveries in Siberia, where permafrost has preserved fossils and other organic materials so well. This is why 90% of all known mammoth fossils come out of Yakutia, a region in eastern Siberia. The oldest genome ever sequenced  — from a 1.6-million-year-old mammoth tooth reported last year — is from the area.

Behind many of these discoveries are longtime relationships and collaborations between Russian and foreign researchers. But the war — and the response from the West, such as sanctions — has made collaborations untenable.

Two weeks ago thousands of Russian scientists signed on to a remarkable letter publicly denouncing the war:

Having unleashed the war, Russia doomed itself to international isolation, to the position of a pariah country. This means that we, scientists, will no longer be able to do our job normally: after all, conducting scientific research is unthinkable without full cooperation with colleagues from other countries. The isolation of Russia from the world means further cultural and technological degradation of our country in the complete absence of positive prospects. War with Ukraine is a step to nowhere.

Nature reports that Western researchers are avoiding contacting their Russian peers out of concern for their safety. One scientist, who wished to remain anonymous, summed it up: “We are on the precipice that something could go terribly wrong if we aren’t careful.” 

Photo credit: Ivan Sekretarev / AP / Shutterstock