The AHA has released a statement “condemn[ing] in the strongest possible terms Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine” and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s abuse of history as justification for the attack. “Putin’s rhetorical premise for this brutal violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty is anchored by a set of outlandish historical claims, including an argument that Ukraine was entirely a Soviet creation,” the AHA wrote. “We vigorously support the Ukrainian nation and its people in their resistance to Russian military aggression and the twisted mythology that President Putin has invented to justify his violation of international norms.”

To date, 42 organizations have signed onto the statement.

Download the letter as a PDF.

Approved February 28, 2022

The American Historical Association condemns in the strongest possible terms Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine. This act of overt military aggression violates the sovereignty of an independent Ukraine, threatening stability in the broader region and across the world.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rhetorical premise for this brutal violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty is anchored by a set of outlandish historical claims, including an argument that Ukraine was entirely a Soviet creation. In fact, Ukraine’s distinct language and culture date back over many centuries. Ukraine has been a crossroads of the region, connected to countries and cultures to the west as well as Russia to its east.

Over time, Ukrainians have contested both Russification and Sovietization. President Putin grossly simplifies and distorts Ukraine’s history, essentially erasing its distinct past and rendering it indistinguishable from Russia.

The AHA emphatically opposes this unprovoked act of military aggression; that the war is based on such a distorted and tendentious misreading of history makes it all the more deplorable. We vigorously support the Ukrainian nation and its people in their resistance to Russian military aggression and the twisted mythology that President Putin has invented to justify his violation of international norms.

The following organizations have signed onto this statement:

American Catholic Historical Association
American Folklore Society
American Musicological Society
American Political Science Association
American Society for Environmental History
American Society for Theatre Research
Association for Documentary Editing
Association for Historians of Nineteenth-Century Art
Austrian Studies Association
Berkshire Conference of Women Historians
College Art Association of America
Conference of Latin American History
Executive Committee of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
Forum on Early-Modern Empires and Global Interactions
French Colonial Historical Society 
German Studies Association
Historians of Eighteenth-Century Art and Architecture
Historical Society for Twentieth Century China
Hungarian Studies Association
Immigration and Ethnic History Society
National Council of Teachers of English
National Council on Public History
North American Conference on British Studies
The Officers of the Medieval Academy of America
Polish American Historical Association
Renaissance Society of America
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
Shakespeare Association of America
Sixteenth Century Society & Conference
Society for Austrian and Habsburg History
Society for Cinema and Media Studies
Society for Ethnomusicology
Society for French Historical Studies
Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations
Society for Music Theory 
Society for the History of Discoveries
Society for the Study of Early Modern Women and Gender
Society of Architectural Historians
Society of Biblical Literature
Urban History Association
Western Society for French History
World History Association