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There might be just enough time to pick another location, but I am curious what mathematicians think. Will Ukrainian mathematicians be able to attend a conference in Russia if Russia no longer recognizes their passports?

To be clear: I love Russia, and I am not trying to hurt the feelings of Russian mathematicians or people.

The International Mathematical Union (IMU) have made a decision on moving the ICM to a virtual event, but there is still the (less exciting) decision to make concerning the location of IMU General Assembly.

Ben McKay
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    I posted something on meta about this: https://meta.mathoverflow.net/a/5261/25028. To me this is a very borderline quesiton for the MO front page: it is inherently subjective and political; on the other hand, certainly it is of interest to research mathematicians. I'm conflicted as to whether it should be closed. – Sam Hopkins Feb 24 '22 at 19:25
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    See also discussion on Peter Woit's blog: https://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=12717. – Sam Hopkins Feb 24 '22 at 19:25
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    LMS statement: https://www.lms.ac.uk/node/1848 – Ulrich Pennig Feb 24 '22 at 19:29
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    I’m not sure this question can really be answered on MO, but my vote is “[expletive deleted] no.” – Gabe K Feb 24 '22 at 19:29
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    SMF (french) statement. Last sentence: "The SMF urges the International Mathematical Union not to hold the ICM in Russia in 2022." – abx Feb 24 '22 at 19:35
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    @abx There is a similar AMS statement. – Moishe Kohan Feb 24 '22 at 19:57
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    Since much longer time, there is this call: http://www.icm2022boycott.org/ – Stefan Kohl Feb 24 '22 at 20:49
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    I see that there is a letter (finalised last Sunday) to the IMU leadership signed by 116 invited speakers to the ICM stating 'it [is] the responsibility of the IMU to ensure that the Congress will not take place within the context of a war, orof the threat of war.' See https://www.dropbox.com/s/pbcerqnd36w8xg2/ICMstatement.docx?dl=0. – shane.orourke Feb 24 '22 at 20:57
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    "There might be just enough time to pick another location..." If I understand correctly, the IMU By-Laws require 6 months notice for the General Assembly (though not the ICM, which is a different bailiwick) to be moved. See By-Law 37 (and Statute 24) in the 2018 version. Though the language of the Statute 24 does seem to allow a "postal ballot" to determine the time and place of the "normal" GA (as opposed to a "special" GA), with no immediately evident temporal restrictions therein. – user334725 Feb 24 '22 at 21:04
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    There is now a statement from the IMU itself: https://www.mathunion.org/fileadmin/IMU/Publications/CircularLetters/2022/IMU%20AO%20CL%204_2022.pdf – Sam Hopkins Feb 24 '22 at 21:19
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    Hey y'all - I'm one of the CMs here for Stack Exchange. I've removed some comments here. I understand today is beyond painful for many people and I don't want to dismiss that but I felt it was important to step in to keep this in scope of the question as asked. I understand that can be difficult considering recent events but it seemed like everyone agreed that the discussion had strayed a bit far, so I took the initiative to remove it. – Catija Feb 24 '22 at 22:21
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    @Catija Thanks for removing the discussion that I started. I voted to reopen the question. – GH from MO Feb 24 '22 at 22:25
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    I voted to reopen this question in part as a small gesture of respect to the awesome calm bravery of the anti-war protestors in Moscow and other Russian cities--perhaps St. Petersburg as well. (I doubt I would be as brave.) And, I find the linked blog posts on the topic informative. – Tom Copeland Feb 24 '22 at 23:50
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    "Will Ukrainian mathematicians be able to attend a conference in Russia if Russia no longer recognizes their passports?" - this seems somewhat hypothetical. Even when countries are at war, there can be what might vaguely be called "cultural exceptions" to border controls. For instance, Levon Aronian of Armenia played in the 2015 Chess World Cup in Azerbaijan (though in 2016 the Armenian teams did not take part in the Chess Olympiad in Baku). My guess is that Ukrainian mathematicians could apply on a case-by-case basis to attend the ICM. My guess is also that approximately zero would do so. – user334725 Feb 25 '22 at 00:00
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    IMHO, it should be a cw question. – Moishe Kohan Feb 25 '22 at 02:01
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    Australian Mathematical Society says no: https://austms.org.au/statement-on-icm-2022/ – David Roberts Feb 25 '22 at 03:45
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    I think this is an important question, and I do not know another place to discuss it. The comments so far al already very useful. Therefore, I am against closing. – Konrad Waldorf Feb 25 '22 at 10:45
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    Thanks for posting this question: there is a lot of useful information in the comments. – Alexandre Eremenko Feb 25 '22 at 12:35
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    I vote to re-open: the question and the answer have high up vote. – Alexandre Eremenko Feb 25 '22 at 12:39
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    @AlexandreEremenko I voted to reopen too. The question obviously doesn't fit the guidelines but it's too important. Perhaps it can be moved to meta but I'm fine with it being here. Will get fewer views on meta. – Vitali Kapovitch Feb 25 '22 at 13:49
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    There's an earlier comment indicating that the AMS has a statement regarding this, but it didn't include the link. Since people have posted links to the statements by the LMS, SMF, and Australian Math Soc, I thought it would be helpful to also give the link the the AMS statment, which was posted on February 22: https://www.ams.org/news?news_id=6987 – Joe Silverman Feb 25 '22 at 14:44
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    The answer is an emphatic "No!". As for the clarification: May I suggest that the feelings of Ukrainian mathematicians should be given a higher priority than the feelings of Russian mathematicians at a time like this? – Jakub Konieczny Feb 25 '22 at 15:05
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    Letter to the editor of Notices of the AMS, to appear: "The International Mathematical Union should postpone the International Congress of Mathematics 2022 (ICM 2022) scheduled for St. Petersburg, Russia, in July, 2022, and announce that the meeting will take place in 2023 in another country. The American Mathematical Society should immediately announce that it will not participate in any mathematics meeting in Russia in 2022. If this were a theorem, one would add: Proof obvious. -Melvyn Nathanson." Mel mentioned it was his first paper accepted in 1 hour 16 minutes. – Brian Hopkins Feb 25 '22 at 15:26
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    @BrianHopkins, "If this were a theorem, one would add: Proof obvious." Great quote. It's unfortunate certain cadres in the U.S. don't think so clearly and too frequently have insidious agendas. – Tom Copeland Feb 25 '22 at 16:42
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    The World Chess Federation (which Arkady Dvorkovich is the head of it - relevantly, he's also the co-chair of the ICM executive organizing committee) recently announced that the 2022 Chess Olympiad will not take place in Russia (as had been planned). Dvorkovich ultimately made the decision himself (his Council was actually against moving/cancelling it a couple of days ago), saying "objectively it was necessary", but as there was significant IOC pressure, I'm unsure one can analogize that the ICM will be handled similarly. – user334725 Feb 25 '22 at 17:48
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    Imagine a casual reader, not a mathematician: "wow, if this is a soft question, I wonder what the serious ones are on this site". – Alessandro Della Corte Feb 25 '22 at 18:46
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    @AlessandroDellaCorte I'm not sure it's an important issue. I added the soft-question tag, which has a precise role which the casual reader can read just clicking the tag or just putting the mouse on it. Many more usual "soft question"-tagged questions are also not easy to answer, and also the "soft-question" tag is not suitable for mathematical questions even if easy to solve. – YCor Feb 25 '22 at 19:25
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    @YCor I'm sure the tag is more than appropriate (it was just bitter humor by me). – Alessandro Della Corte Feb 25 '22 at 19:31
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    The Irish Mathematical Society has put out a strongly worded statement on this question: http://www.irishmathsoc.org/ – Ben McKay Feb 25 '22 at 19:34
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    The New Scientist has discussed the issue: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2309727-mathematicians-are-angry-that-russia-may-still-host-a-major-conference/ – Ben McKay Feb 25 '22 at 19:36
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    I voted to re-open this some time ago - could someone with enough points protect this question from being closed? (I certainly will keep voting to reopen as many times as needed) – Dima Pasechnik Feb 25 '22 at 20:02
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    I voted to close because I feel that mathematics should be the reason for uniting people, not for dividing them. If there are security concerns I don't think MO is the place to discuss them – godelian Feb 25 '22 at 20:03
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    @godelian The dividing has already been done. Allowing the divider the prestige of hosting the ICM seems to me (and others) highly immoral, even without getting into security concerns. – Carl-Fredrik Nyberg Brodda Feb 25 '22 at 20:19
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    @Carl-FredrikNybergBrodda I think their prestige has gone down the sink even if they hold the ICM. I just wish mathematics will not have to suffer for this. – godelian Feb 25 '22 at 20:33
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    The Swedish Mathematical Society has also sent such a statement (“åsiktsbrev”) to the IMU: letter from 2022-02-25. Also: an earlier such appeal from 2021-11-26. – Peter LeFanu Lumsdaine Feb 25 '22 at 20:34
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    @godelian Mathematics has already suffered for this, and will continue to suffer every day the lives of our colleagues in Ukraine are threatened and their country is destroyed. – Carl-Fredrik Nyberg Brodda Feb 25 '22 at 20:41
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    From the Italian mathematical society website: https://umi.dm.unibo.it/2022/02/24/comunicato-umi-sulla-crisi-ucraina/ – Alessandro Della Corte Feb 25 '22 at 21:05
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    This open letter by Russian scientists is not directly related by ICM, but probably still worthwhile to mention in this context. – Jochen Glueck Feb 25 '22 at 22:37
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    The quintessence of mathematics is the discovery, creation, and sharing of harmony, truth, and beauty. An offensive war is the atrocious antithesis. Although the trajectory of this terrible, heartbreaking debacle needs a thorough, honest review so that correctives can be made to the foreign policies of the nations involved, I commend the at least implicit condemnation of the Russian kleptocracy by boycotts of the ICM meeting. – Tom Copeland Feb 26 '22 at 00:23
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    I don't think the issue for Ukrainian mathematicians is so much whether they'd be let in, so much as the Russians can be trusted to let them leave. – Acccumulation Feb 26 '22 at 08:08
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    @user334725 "Even when countries are at war, there can be what might vaguely be called "cultural exceptions" to border controls." If the Russians had any respect for international norms, we wouldn't be in this situation in the first place. – Acccumulation Feb 26 '22 at 08:09
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    @JakubKonieczny "May I suggest that the feelings of Ukrainian mathematicians should be given a higher priority than the feelings of Russian mathematicians at a time like this?" Any Russian mathematician with any decency would object to it being held in Russian as well. So it's a question of whether the feelings of the Russian mathematicians who lack basic decency should take precendence. – Acccumulation Feb 26 '22 at 08:11
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    A decision has been made: https://www.mathunion.org/ – Ben McKay Feb 26 '22 at 16:27
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    @BenMcKay: In light of this resolution, perhaps the question should be closed? – Sam Hopkins Feb 26 '22 at 16:42
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    Ukrainian mathematicians are fighting the invader or hiding in bomb shelters as we speak while Russian mathematicians are jailed. Why would any place in Russia be a good location for any international event right now? Maybe - hopefully - in a few years when Putin's bloody regime is over, but "in 2022" would sound like an awful judgement call. – undercat Feb 26 '22 at 16:52
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    @SamHopkins: ok, I closed it. – Ben McKay Feb 26 '22 at 17:03
  • @Mazura : edited as requested. – Dima Pasechnik Feb 26 '22 at 20:11
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    This question is off topic, but at the same time questions like this are the very reason I love this site and a reminder to keep the shred of faith in humanity. – polfosol Feb 27 '22 at 02:46
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    Slightly more important than "Where to buy premium white chalk in the U.S., like they have at RIMS?", eh? (Check the voting and timeline for closure on that question.) As a moral issue, independent of logistics and security, the answer to BM's question is obvious to me, but I want to know the opinions and responses among the wider community. (I hope the total vote will exceed that for the one on chalk. As far as the # of views--well, hope springs eternal.)https://mathoverflow.net/questions/26267/where-to-buy-premium-white-chalk-in-the-u-s-like-they-have-at-rims – Tom Copeland Feb 27 '22 at 04:02
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    From https://ecmiindmath.org/2019/03/25/leonhard-euler-and-saint-petersburg/: These sixteen years spent in Saint Petersburg were very productive for Leonhard Euler. He came as a young graduate and left as a world-famous mathematician. In Saint Petersburg, he married Katharina Gsell, the daughter of another expat from Switzerland. But Russia had its specifics: when he was asked by the Prussian Empress: "Why are you speaking so briefly?”, he replied, “Your Majesty, I came from the country, where you can be executed for a word.” (Some traditions die hard.) – Tom Copeland Feb 27 '22 at 04:53
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    The Scottish Café (famous among mathematicians interested in the history of the field) was a café in Lwów, Poland, which is now Lviv, Ukraine (https://dbpedia.org/page/Scottish_Caf%C3%A9). Lviv has my vote for an ICM when the time comes, with a tip of my hat to the generous Poles. – Tom Copeland Mar 11 '22 at 05:11

3 Answers3

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To answer the question in the title: "No."

And I would imagine that Ukrainian mathematicians would boycott any ICM held in Russia, in these times. So the question of whether Russia would honor their passports will probably not arise.

paul garrett
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    I don't think the question arises whether the question arises because realistically the ICM will not be held in St. Petersburg. – Jakob Möller Feb 25 '22 at 09:36
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    Realistically (though perhaps I will be corrected), I don't think there were many Ukrainian mathematicians planning on attending even prior to recent events. – user334725 Feb 25 '22 at 09:41
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    I don't even think this is about Ukranian mathematicians at this point. Holding ICM in Russia is no longer tenable. If It's not moved many invited speakers will not go. At least I hope so. There are things more important than math honors. – Vitali Kapovitch Feb 25 '22 at 13:38
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    I'd even go that far to say that such global event as an ICM should ideally take place in a location where nobody -- regardless from where in the world -- has the feeling to be in enemy's country, as far as this can realistically be achieved. But an ICM in St Petersburg this year would feel to me like an ICM in Munich in 1938. – Stefan Kohl Feb 25 '22 at 15:52
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    @StefanKohl, you express something I think we all wish for. But do you have an actual location to suggest? I would add that I think to achieve such a goal, each ICM should be funded jointly by all IMU members (at appropriate percentages) instead of just the host country. – Deane Yang Feb 25 '22 at 18:00
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    @DeaneYang While there is no perfect location, certainly a good approximation are small neutral countries (such as e.g. Switzerland or Austria) which were not involved in war in the past decades and which do not threaten other countries by military means. And yes, I also think funding should be by all IMU members -- already to avoid that only big or rich countries can host an ICM, or that commercial / PR considerations play a too big role. – Stefan Kohl Feb 25 '22 at 21:46
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    Small neutral countries that will allow visa-free travel or expedited visas without a humiliating and expensive process for citizens of every country (and yes, third-world countries are countries). Something tells me that not every small neutral country in Europe fits the bill. – H A Helfgott Feb 26 '22 at 10:41
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The real question is not about the Congress. There will be no ICM in Petersburg. Maximum what they can stage is a Russian-Chinese conference. Which decent Russians and Chinese will not attend anyway.

The real question is about moral character of the IMU leadership. It is they who made a decision to have this congress in the country which is controlled by a maniac mass murderer sitting on 5000+ nukes. Everyone knew what kind of country is this since 2014.

And even in these last two days, when bombs and missiles are falling on all major Ukrainian cities, the IMU committee is still "discussing" something!

Edit. Meanwhile, sports federations cancel all events in Russia and even tourist tour operators cancel their tours. Only IMU is still "deliberating".

Update: It seems that they finally decided.

Alexandre Eremenko
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    In fairness, they may be discussing whether it is feasible to move ICM to another location in either 2022 or 2023, versus canceling it altogether. The logistical and financial issues in organizing a huge conference such as the ICM in 5 months, or even 17 months, are daunting. I have no inside knowledge, but I do feel it's okay to give them the weekend to decide what to do. Of course, they should issue an initial statement saying "no ICM in Russia", or the stronger statement "no ICM with any host participation by Russia," with additional details to follow. I guess we both would have liked that. – Joe Silverman Feb 25 '22 at 22:56
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    @JoeSilverman "no ICM with any host participation by Russia," I'm not sure what exactly that statement means, but still want to attract everybody's attention that there is a difference between V. Putin and Stas Smirnov, so I wouldn't mind moving ICM to another country with retaining most of the organizing committee, if they are willing to serve. As to the initial IMU decision, it was, probably, based not on the number of nukes or the character of the country's leader, but on the reputation of the Russian mathematical school, so I see no moral issue there. But let them speak for themselves. – fedja Feb 26 '22 at 02:57
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    @fedja: Still nobody proposed the 1940 ICM in Germany. It was just canceled. And those who proposed it in post 2014 Russia bear full moral responsibility. – Alexandre Eremenko Feb 26 '22 at 03:12
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    @fedja: Of course, there is a lot of difference between Putin and Smirnov. I suppose Putin is not a good mathematician. And Putin is a mass murderer, while Smirnov is only a collaborationist. Smirnov lives and works in a free European country. Did he ever publicly dissociate himself from Putin's crimes? – Alexandre Eremenko Feb 26 '22 at 03:23
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    @JoeSilverman Excluding mathematicians from one country just because that country's leader is insane would be totally unacceptable. – Martin Hairer Feb 26 '22 at 23:10
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    @MartinHairer I was not suggesting that invited Russian ICM speakers be excluded from speaking about their mathematical work. They should be welcomed. I was suggesting that Russia should not serve as the host country. Hosting might include (for example) having host dignitaries welcoming the participants. I have the greatest respect for our Russian colleagues and the achievements of Russian mathematicans. But the (to quote your words) insane leadership of the country should preclude that country from having the honor of hosting the ICM. My impression is that IMU has reached the same decision. – Joe Silverman Feb 27 '22 at 02:06
  • I certainly hope your relatives, friends, and colleagues in the Ukraine and in Russia will see this tragedy through unharmed. – Tom Copeland Mar 03 '22 at 18:14
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    @Tom Copeland: Currently some of them leave their homes and escape, others sitting in bomb shelters, while the younger ones took arms to defend themselves. – Alexandre Eremenko Mar 04 '22 at 12:37
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The IMU reached their decision, the ICM will take place entirely virtually except for the IMU general assembly and awards ceremony which will take place in-person outside of Russia. No word on whether Russian government involvement in organizing will continue. Further details to come.

Terry Tao, who is the chair of the ICM Structure Committee, is inviting discussion of how to best use the virtual format on his blog.

The IMU executive committee has released some further clarifications, including announcing that there will be no Russian government involvement in the ICM.

Noah Snyder
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