F-16 für die Ukraine: Offener Brief an Joseph Biden, Präsident der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika

In English en Français en Español in Italiano po Polsku Yкраїнською мовою

Herzinger.org, 10. Mai 2023

Sehr geehrter Herr Präsident,

zunächst möchten wir Ihnen, Verteidigungsminister Lloyd Austin, Außenminister Antony Blinken und der sehr breiten überparteilichen Koalition im Kongress für Ihre unerschütterliche Unterstützung der Ukraine und für die Führungsrolle danken, die die Vereinigten Staaten wieder einmal bei der Verteidigung der Grundprinzipien der Charta der Vereinten Nationen übernommen haben. Wir teilen Ihre Auffassung, die General Christopher Cavoli so treffend zusammengefasst hat: „Russland kann aus diesem Krieg nicht als Sieger hervorgehen, das würde unsere Zukunft nicht verkraften“.

Wir hätten uns oft eine schnellere und umfassendere Hilfe für die Ukraine gewünscht, aber wir wissen, dass Sie über Informationen verfügen, die wir nicht haben, und dass Sie auch viel Arbeit investieren mussten, um die Ramstein-Koalition aufzubauen und dann zusammenzuhalten.

Wir schreiben Ihnen heute, weil wir besorgt sind. Die Aufgabe, die die ukrainischen Streitkräfte in den kommenden Monaten zu bewältigen haben, ist in der Tat gigantisch und nicht ohne das Risiko von Rückschlägen oder Teilerfolgen. Wie General Mark Milley wiederholt betont hat, wäre nichts schlimmer, als die militärischen Fähigkeiten der Russischen Föderation zu unterschätzen. Mit anderen Worten: Es gibt keinen Grund, eine Fortsetzung des Krieges über 2023 hinaus auszuschließen.

Wie Sie wissen, sind General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, der Oberbefehlshaber der ukrainischen Streitkräfte, sowie zahlreiche ukrainische militärische Verantwortliche und Politiker der Ansicht, dass die Lieferung westlicher Flugzeuge für ein schnelles Ende des Krieges von entscheidender Bedeutung ist. Wie unter anderem NATO-Generalsekretär Jens Stoltenberg und der britische Außenminister James Cleverly erklärten, ist die einzige wirkliche Garantie für die mittel- und langfristige Sicherheit der Ukraine ihre Mitgliedschaft im Atlantischen Bündnis, die jedoch erst nach dem Ende des Krieges möglich sein wird. Wir zweifeln nicht daran, dass sich ein breiter Konsens in diesem Sinne abzeichnet und dass die Staaten, die diesen Prozess auf dem NATO-Gipfel 2008 in Bukarest blockiert haben und damit eine schwere Verantwortung für den laufenden Krieg tragen, sich hüten werden, ihn erneut zu behindern.

Wir wissen auch, dass der Einsatz moderner westlicher Flugzeuge eine gründliche Ausbildung der Piloten und eine komplexe Logistik erfordert. Wir wissen aber auch, dass die hoch motivierten ukrainischen Soldaten eine bemerkenswerte Lernfähigkeit bewiesen haben.

Schließlich ist neben Ihrer Rolle als Anführer der Ramstein-Koalition auch Ihre Zustimmung als Präsident des Landes, das die F16 herstellt – das Flugzeug, das für die ukrainischen Militärbehörden am begehrtesten ist – unerlässlich.

Die Ramstein-Koalition muss in der Lage sein, in sechs Monaten eine Entscheidung über die Lieferung der F16 durch Ihr Land und die europäischen Länder, die über solche Flugzeuge verfügen, auf der Grundlage der dann bestehenden militärischen und politischen Realität zu treffen. Zu diesem Zweck halten wir es für unerlässlich, dass sehr bald eine Entscheidung über die Ausbildung von 100 ukrainischen Piloten, über den Aufbau der für die Lieferung von 100 Flugzeugen erforderlichen Logistikkette, über die Anzahl der Flugzeuge, die jeder NATO-Staat im Herbst 2023 tatsächlich liefern könnte, und über die Vorbereitung dieser Flugzeuge getroffen wird.

Wir danken Ihnen, dass Sie alles in Ihrer Macht stehende tun, um diese Ziele so schnell wie möglich zu erreichen, und versichern Sie, Herr Präsident, unserer vorzüglichen Hochachtung,

Liste der Unterzeichner

Annely Akkermann, member of Parliament, former Minister of Finance, Estonia

Andrus Ansip, member of the European Parliament, former Prime Minister of Estonia 

Gert-Johannes Hagemann, Major General (ret.), German Army, Berlin, Germany

Willy Herteleer, Admiral (ret.), ex Belgian Chief of Defence

Anton Hofreiter, Chairman of the Committee on European Union Affairs of the Bundestag, Germany

Rasa Jukneviciené, Vice-President of the European Parliament, former Defence Minister, Lithuania

Roderich Kiesewetter, member of the Bundestag, representative of Foreign Affairs for the CDU/CSU-caucus, Germany

Andrius Kubilius, member of the European Parliament, former Prime Minister of Lithuania

Vytautas Landsbergis, former President of the Republic of Lithuania

Pandeli Majko, former Prime Minister of Albania 

Marcos Perestrello, member of Parliament, Chair of the Defense Committee, Portugal 

Karel Schwarzenberg, former Foreign Affairs Minister and vice Prime Minister of the Czech Republic

Kalev Stoicescu, member of Parliament, chairman of the National Defence Committee, Estonia 

Jarosław Stróżyk, Brigadier General (ret.), Assistant Professor at the University of Wrocław, Poland

Pekka Toveri, Major General (ret.), member of Parliament, Finland 

& 

Michael Aastrup Jensen, member of Parliament, Denmark 

Cengiz Aktar, professor of Political Science at the University of Athens

Alberto Alemanno, Jean Monnet professor of EU Law, HEC Paris, Founder of The Good Lobby

Katarina Ammitzbøll, former member of Parliament, Denmark

Martin Andler, mathematician, professor emeritus at the University of Versailles-St-Quentin, France

Antoine Arjakovsky, director of Research, Collège des Bernardins, France

Olga Artyushkina, senior Lecturer HDR in Russian Grammar and Linguistics, Jean Moulin Lyon 3 University

Anders Åslund, economist and former Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, Sweden

João Azevedo Castro, member of Parliament, Portugal

Christine Baron, professor of Comparative Literature, University of Poitiers, France

Kris Beckers, Honorary Consul of Ukraine in Belgium

Martine Benoit, professor of History of Ideas-German studies, University of Lille, France

Gérard Bensussan, philosopher, professor Emeritus at the University of Strasbourg, France

Florian Bieber, professor of Southeast European History and Politics, Centre for Southeast European Studies, University of Graz, Austria

Michał Bilewicz, associate professor of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Poland

Magdalena Błeńska, member of Parliament, Poland

Pierre Bouchat, assistant professor of social psychology at the University of Lorraine, France

Alain Bourges, videographer, writer, retired senior art teacher, Ecole Européenne Supérieure d’Art de Bretagne, Rennes, France

John Bowis, former member of the European Parliament, former member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom

Yordan Bozhilov, director of the Sofia Security Forum, former Deputy Defense Minister of Bulgaria 

Justina Budginaité-Froehly, political scientist, Germany 

Michel Caillouët, former Ambassador of the European Union, France 

Enver Can, founding President of the Ilham Tohti Initiative, Germany

Marco Cappato, former member of the European Parliament, Italy

Paulo Casaca, former member of the Portuguese Parliament, former member of the European Parliament

Leo M. Chalupa, professor, School of Medicine, George Washington University; Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science”, USA

Peter Cmorej, member of Parliament, Slovakia

Yves Cohen, historian, director of studies at EHESS, France

Dominique Colas, professor emeritus of Political Science, Sciences Po, Paris, France

Dorota Dakowska, professor of political science at Sciences Po Aix, France

Christophe D’Aloisio, researcher affiliated to the Research Institute Religions, Spiritualities, Cultures, Societies (RSCS, UCLouvain), director of the Institute of Orthodox Theology in Brussels, Belgium

Pierre d’Argent, professor of International Law, University of Louvain, member of the Institute of International Law, Belgium

Louis Daubresse, associate researcher at the Institut de Recherche sur le Cinéma et l’Audiovisuel and the Fondation Balzan, PhD in film and audiovisual studies, France

Julia David, associate member of the Institute of Modern and Contemporary History (CNRS/ENS), France

Mark Demesmaeker, senator, chair of the Committee of Transversal Affairs, Belgium

Sébastien Denis, professor, History & Film Studies, University of Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne, France

Massimiliano Di Pasquale, associate researcher at the Gino Germani Foundation, Italy

Boris Dittrich, Senator, Netherlands

Jean-Marc Dreyfus, historian, lecturer at the University of Manchester, UK

André Dumoulin, honorary lecturer, University of Liege, Belgium

Olivier Dupuis, former member of the European Parliament, Belgium

Emmanuel Dupuy, president of the Institute for Prospective and Security in Europe (IPSE), France

Normunds Dzintars, member of Parliament, Latvia

Marc Elie, research fellow at the CNRS, Deputy Director of the Center for Russian, Caucasian and Central European Studies – Cercec, France

Nino Evgenidze, executive director Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC), Georgia

Marta Farion, president, Kyiv-Mohyla Foundation of America

Penelope Faulkner, vice-President of Quê Me: Action for Democracy in Vietnam, France

Andrej Findor, associate professor at the Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia 

Claude Forest, lecturer and researcher in economics and sociology of cinema at the Sorbonne Paris 3 University, France 

Céline Gailleurd, lecturer, filmmaker, University of Paris 8

Natalia Gamalova, professor of Russian Language and Literature, Department of Slavic Studies, University of Lyon 3, France

Vitaliano Gemelli, former member of the European Parliament, Italy

Julie Gerber, doctor of Comparative Literature, lecturer at the Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3, France

Mridula Ghosh, senior Lecturer of International Relations, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy; Board Chair, East European Development Institute, Kyiv, Ukraine

Thorniké Gordadzé, former Minister of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Georgia, lecturer at Paris Institute of Political Studies, Sciences Po, France

Svetlana Gorshenina, historian, art historian, historiographer and specialist on Central Asia, director of research at CNRS Eur’Orbem, Université Paris-Sorbonne, France

Nicolas Gosset, defence analyst, research fellow Russia/Eurasia at the Royal Higher Institute for Defence, Brussels, Belgium

Iegor Gran, writer, France

Markéta Gregorova, member of the European Parliament, Czech Republic

Gustav Gressel, senior policy fellow with the Wider Europe Programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations, Germany

Tomasz Grzegorz Grosse, professor, University of Warsaw, head of Department of European Union Policies at the Institute of European Studies, Editor-in-Chief of the International Analyses quarterly, Poland

Jarosław Gryz, professor at War Studies University, Poland

Jeanyves Guérin, professor of French literature at the Sorbonne nouvelle University, France

Fernando Adolfo Gutiérrez Díaz de Otazu, member of Parliament, Spain

Christophe Hansen, member of the European Parliament, Luxemburg

Atte Harjanne, member of Parliament, Finland

Rebecca Harms, former member of the European Parliament and Co-chair of the Green Parlamentary Group, Germany

Patrick Hassenteufel, professor of Political Science, Université Paris-Saclay (UVSQ), Sciences Po Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France

Pavel Havlicek, research fellow at the Association for International Affairs (AMO), Czech Republic

Oleksandr Havrylenko, professor at the V. N. Karazin National University, Kharkiv, Ukraine

Thomas Heilmann, member of the Bundestag, Germany

Joseph Henrotin, research fellow at the Institut de Stratégie Comparée, Belgium/France

Richard Herzinger, columnist, Berlin, Germany

Maryana Hnyp, professor of Social Ethics, Ateneo de Manila University; president of the European Network on Religion and Belief, Belgium

Marie Holzman, sinologist, president of Solidarité Chine

Ulrich Huygevelde, coordinator of the Center Géopolis, Belgium

Mārcis Jencītis, member of Parliament, Latvia

Mario Kadastik, member of Parliament, Estonia

Christian Kaunert, professor of International Security Policy, Dublin City University and University of South Wales

André Klarsfeld, deputy chair of the NPO “Pour l’Ukraine, pour leur liberté et la nôtre !”, retired university professor, France

Jurģis Klotiņš, member of Parliament, Latvia

Miro Kollár, member of Parliament, Slovakia

Gašper Koprivsek, founder and director of Elysium Public Affairs, Slovenia

Andrey Kovatchev, member of the European Parliament, Bulgaria

Philip Krämer, member of the Bundestag, Germany

Péter Krekó, senior lecturer and director of the Political Capital Institute, Political Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary

Eerik-Niiles Kross, member of Parliament, former Director of Intelligence, Estonia

Yauheni Kryzhanouski, researcher, University of Strasbourg, associate professor at European Humanities University, Vilnius

Robert Kwiatkowski, member of Parliament, Poland

Per Larsen, member of Parliament, Denmark

Gérard Lauton, emeritus assistant professor, member of the NPO « Pour l’Ukraine, pour leur liberté et la nôtre ! », France

Diogo Leão, member of Parliament, Portugal

Aurélie Ledoux, lecturer, film studies, University of Paris Nanterre, France

Mathieu Lericq, Lecturer, Film studies, University Paris 8 Vincennes Saint-Denis, France

Ophir Levy, associate professor, Film Studies, Université Paris 8 Vincennes Saint-Denis, France

Šarūnas Liekis, professor of Politics and dean of the Faculty of Politics and Diplomacy at Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania

Jarno Limnell, member of Parliament, Finland

Sylvie Lindeperg, professor at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and emeritus member of the Institut Universitaire de France

Jonathan Littell, writer, Goncourt Prize, France

Ramon Loik, security politics analyst, Estonian Academy of Security Sciences, former adviser to the Estonian Minister of Defense

Raimundas Lopata, member of Parliament, director of the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at Vilnius University, Lithuania

Mihhail Lotman, former member of Parliament, professor emeritus at the Tallinn University, professor at the University of Tartu, Estonia

Lubomyr Luciuk, professor of Political Science and Economics, Royal Military College of Canada

Jaak Madison, member of the European Parliament, Estonia

Paul Robert Magocsi, permanent fellow, Royal Society of Canada—Academy of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

Damien Marguet, associate professor, co-Head of Film Studies Department, Université Paris 8 Vincennes Saint-Denis, France 

Jean Mariani, professor emeritus, Neurosciences and Gerosciences, Faculty of Medicine Sorbonne University, France

Alain Maskens, physician, oncologist, founder and former medical coordinator of the European Organization for Cooperation in Cancer Prevention Studies (ECP), Belgium

Marie-Claude Maurel, director of Studies at EHESS – École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Centre d’études russe, caucasien et centre-européen, France

Frédéric Mauro, lawyer at the Brussels bar, associate researcher at the Institute for International and Strategic Relations (IRIS), Paris, France

Rachel Mazuy, Associate researcher at the Institut d’Histoire du Temps Présent, lecturer at Sciences Po Paris, France

Alvydas Medalinskas, political analyst, Mykolas Romeris University, Vilnius, former chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Lithuanian Parliament

Alexandre Melnik, professor at ICN Business School, expert and consultant in geopolitics, France

Nona Mikhelidze, senior fellow at the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) in Rome, Italy

Emmanuel Morucci, doctor in Sociology, president of CECI (Cercle Europe Citoyennetés et identités), France

Alexander Motyl, professor of political science, Rutgers University-Newark, United States

Boris Najman, associate professor and researcher in Economics at University Paris East Créteil

Laure Neumayer, political scientist, lecturer at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and senior researcher at the European Centre for Sociology and Political Science in Paris, France

Olevs Nikers, president of the Baltic Security Foundation, Latvia

Alexis Nuselovici, professor of General and Comparative Literature at the University of Aix-Marseille, France

Lydia Obolensky, professor of Russian Language and Literature, Belgium 

Ong Thong Hoeung, writer, survivor of the Khmer Rouge re-education camps, Belgium 

Peter Osuský, vice-chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Slovakian Parliament 

Doris Pack, president of EPP Women, president of the Robert Schuman Institute, former member of the European Parliament and the Bundestag, Germany 

Carmelo Palma, journalist, Director of Strade-on-line, Italy 

Franck Petiteville, professor of Political Science, Grenoble Institute of Political Studies, France

Jan Pieklo, Polish ambassador to Ukraine (2016-2019)

Nicoletta Pirozzi, head of EU Programme and Institutional Relations Manager at Istituto Affari Internazionali, Italy 

Andrzej Podraza, professor, head of the Chair of International Relations and Security, Catholic University of Lublin, Poland; visiting fellow, University of Notre Dame, USA

Henn Põlluaas, member of Parliament, Estonia

Bohdan Prots, associate professor, Danube-Carpathian Programme and State Museum of Natural History, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Lviv, Ukraine

Jean-Paul Pylypczuk, director of the publication « La parole ukrainienne », France

Eva Quistorp, theologian, writer, former member of the European Parliament, Berlin, Germany

Pierre Raiman, secretary of the NPO “Pour l’Ukraine, pour leur liberté et la nôtre !”, France

Christian Rocca, Linkiesta Editorial Director, Italy

Sylvie Rollet, emeritus professor, chairwoman of the NPO « Pour l’Ukraine, pour leur liberté et la nôtre ! »

Bronis Ropé, member of the European Parliament, Lithuania

Marie-Claude San Juan, writer and blogger, France

Andrei Sannikov, chairman of the European Belarus Foundation. Deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus (1995-1996), presidential candidate 2010, former Prisoner of Consciousness

Anton Shekhovtsov, director of the Centre for Democratic Integrity, Austria

Vasile Simileanu, Director, Senior Editor, GeoPolitica Magazine, Romania

Sjoerd Sjoerdsma, member of Parliament, Netherlands

Ivan Štefanec, member of the European Parliament, Slovakia

Wally Struys, professor emeritus, defence economist, Royal Military Academy, Belgium

Raúl Suevos, colonel (ret), former director of communication at the Eurocorps and former commander of the multinational HQ Battalion of Eurocorps, Spain

Marcin Święcicki, former Minister of Foreign Economic Co-operation, former mayor of Warsaw, Poland

Igor Taro, member of Parliament, Estonia

Ewa M. Thompson, professor of Slavic Studies Emerita, Rice University, USA

Nathalie Tocci, honorary professor at the University of Tübingen, director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali, Italy

Patrizia Tosini, associate professor of History of Modern Art, Roma Tre University, Italy

Florian Trauner, Jean Monnet chair at the Institute for European Studies of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), visiting professor at the College of Europe, Belgium

Andreas Umland, analyst at the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies

Jacques Vallin, director of research Emeritus, INED, Condorcet Campus, France

Karl Vanlouwe, member of the Flemish Parliament, Senator, Belgium

Maïrbek Vatchagaev, Chechen historian and political analyst of the North Caucasus at the Jamestown Foundation, co-editor of the journal “Caucasus Survey”

Sarah Whitmore, reader in Politics, Faculty Research Ethics Officer, School of Social Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom

Kataryna Wolczuk, professor of Political science, Centre for Russian, European and Eurasian Studies (CREES), School of Government, University of Birmingham, UK

Miroslav Žiak, former member of Parliament, Slovakia