Billionaire businessman Richard Branson banded with 15 other movers and shakers of the business world today, with his new initiative hopefully helping put an end to the ongoing contretemps between Ukraine and Russia.
“As concerned business leaders from Russia, Ukraine and the West, we encourage our governments to compromise and find a peaceful solution to the current conflict,” read an open letter posted today on the website of Virgin Group. “We would like to offer whatever support we can to help resolve this violent conflict.” Aside from Branson, other businessmen who signed the letter include ten individuals from Russia and Ukraine, as well as former eBay president Jeff Skoll, India’s Ratan Tata, and Nobel Laureate Muhammed Yunus.
The goal of the letter is to unite worldwide business leaders in taking the initiative to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with “conversations, not armed conflict” being what is needed at this point in the crisis, according to the missive. The 15 businesspeople also said that they hope the ongoing issues between Russia and Ukraine do not degenerate into a modern-day Cold War-esque scenario.
The situation in Russia and Ukraine has long been redolent of the Cold War, as both nations have been going through their share of geopolitical tensions for the past several months, including attacks on Eastern Ukraine by pro-Russian separatists. Russia, on the other hand, has been accused by Western counties of supporting these separatists, and been issued sanctions as a result of this alleged support. In retaliation, Russia has banned certain food imports from these Western nations, including the U.S.