“Our business is the Russian language and nurturing Russian culture among those living outside their homeland,” the association said in a press release.
It has about 200 members, not just Russians, but also other nationalities from the former Soviet Union, including Ukrainians.
“We feel pain because thousands of innocent people are suffering and blood is being spilt. We feel despair because it seems as though this war was started on behalf of all Russians, which is absolutely incorrect,” the association said, appealing to “everyone not to link the Russian language and culture with politics and aggression.”
It added that “a peaceful coexistence in a multicultural area is a way to open to the whole world, that’s tolerance and respect for people from different countries and of different faiths.”
“We are for peace and friendship between peoples,” the association said.
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