Ukrainian scientist Svitlana Krakovska had never met Russian researcher Oleg Anisimov before the virtual meeting organized by the United Nations last weekend. He was just another government representative there to approve the summary of a dire new 3,500-word report that lays out how unprepared the world is to cope with climate change. Now Krakovska worries for the safety of her Russian counterpart.
As the closed-door meeting was ending, Anisimov took the unexpected step of addressing the Ukraine delegation to apologize for the Russian military invasion. "All of those who know what is happening fail to find any justification for this attack against Ukraine,” he said, according to a person familiar with the discussions and published accounts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) meeting.
The comments leaked to the press on Sunday. Though there has been some opposition to the war inside Russia, it stood out that the head of climate change research at Russia’s State Hydrological Institute and someone representing the country in an official capacity had expressed discomfort with the invasion. Anisimov didn’t respond to questions.