CENL is about people, professional knowledge exchange and cooperation built on trust. This trust is severely hurt as a result of the Russian Federation’s armed attack on Ukraine. CENL detests and condemns all forms of acts of war. The aggression has been commanded by the Russian government, and CENL trusts that its Russian members do not support the war in Ukraine. However as a consequence of the attacks and in line with the decisions of the Council of Europe, CENL has asked its Russian members to suspend their CENL membership voluntarily until further notice. If they will not do so, a formal decision will be taken.

At the same time, CENL assures its Ukrainian colleagues of its solidarity. In this context, all CENL members are invited to send information on support and help for Ukrainian libraries and librarians to the secretariat (cenl@dnb.de).