Centre for Civic Education (CCE) once again points to the concerning continuity of cooperation between the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts (CANU) and academic circles and international associations close to the regime of Vladimir Putin, despite Montenegro’s clearly declared foreign policy orientation and its support for Ukraine.
CCE recalls that even after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, CANU continued its cooperation with the International Association of Academies of Sciences, an organization now closely linked to power structures in Belarus, which has not condemned Russian aggression. Additionally, CCE approached CANU requesting information on whether CANU complies with Montenegro’s sanctions against Russia, as well as an overview of all forms of cooperation with the Russian Federation from February 24, 2022, to the present. CANU refused this request, stating that it does not possess the requested information, which underscores the lack of transparency in its operations.
However, an insight into CANU’s Work Programme for 2026 shows that, within the framework of an agreement with the Electric Power Company of Montenegro, the launch of an international project with the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU), the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts (MANU), and the Academy of Sciences and Arts of the Republic of Srpska is planned, dedicated to Leo Tolstoy and the cultural heritage of the South Slavs. The project is set to run from 2026 to 2028, with leading institutions also from Russia. At the same time, CANU has no planned activities for 2026 with the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, nor are there any planned events marking 20 years since the restoration of Montenegro’s independence.
An insight into CANU’s Yearbook for 2024, which is not publicly available, confirms the continuity of cooperation with the Russian Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. The same document states that CANU President Dragan Vukčević, during his visit to Moscow in September 2024 as part of a session of the Council of the International Association of Academies of Sciences, congratulated the Russian Academy of Sciences on its 300th anniversary. That same year, CANU’s Department of Mathematics and Physics participated in organizing a scientific conference held in Petrovac in cooperation with the Russian Academy of Sciences. At the same time, no cooperation with Ukraine has been recorded.
CCE also points out that on 4 March 2022, the Board of the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities (ALLEA) suspended the membership of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus due to their links to the Russian aggression against Ukraine, emphasizing that this decision was made in line with international sanctions, as well as an expression of commitment to the principles of academic freedom, human rights, and democracy. ALLEA, of which Montenegro is a member, brings together 60 academies from around 40 countries, both EU and non-EU, aiming to promote science as a global public good.
Furthermore, several members of the Russian Academy of Sciences are under international sanctions due to their role in supporting Vladimir Putin’s regime and the aggression against Ukraine, which further problematizes any institutional cooperation with such structures. Among others, Andrei Shutov, a Russian historian and member of Russia’s Central Election Commission and a corresponding member since 2022, is under sanctions from the United States, Ukraine, Australia, New Zealand, and the EU for his role in organizing illegal referendums in occupied Ukrainian regions. Vladimir Kashin, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Agrarian Issues and an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, is under U.S. sanctions due to his role in the war in Ukraine.
CANU has also announced the signing of a Memorandum with the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, whose president, Demberel Sodnomsambuu, has close ties with Russia. “I am a man of the Russian world; I consider this country my second homeland, and therefore I am ready to defend the interests of my Russian friends,” he said last year at a ceremony where he was awarded the title of honorary professor of Irkutsk National Research Technical University. The title was awarded by the university’s rector, Mikhail Korniakov, who publicly supported the aggression against Ukraine in 2022 by signing a letter of the Russian Union of Rectors calling for the “demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine.”
CCE assesses that institutions such as CANU must consistently apply the values they publicly advocate. Cooperation with structures close to regimes involved in the destruction of Ukraine directly undermines the credibility of declarative support for that country. Therefore, we once again call on CANU to reconsider such forms of cooperation and align them with Montenegro’s foreign policy commitments, as well as with the principles it itself invokes.
Sara Čabarkapa, Active Citizenship Programme Coordinator