On 26 February this year, the FSC published an article on its website: Standing strong together: FSC stands by its values (https://fsc.org/en/newsfeed/standing-strong-together-fsc-stands-by-its-values).

The escalating situation in the Ukraine affects FSC’s certificate holders, stakeholders, staff, and partner organizations in Ukraine and across the world.

It was supposedly a response letter to the message from the head of FSC Ukraine:

https://ua.fsc.org/ua-en/newsfeed/fsc-ukraine-personal-appeal-to-all-actors-involved-in-fsc-certification

It is unclear what exactly the FSC intended to say with this, as, in reality, nothing was said. The FSC article does not contain a single word about the certification status of certificate holders in the aggressor state Russia and its launchpad for missiles – Belarus, or about any further actions. Instead, the FSC has included a promotional link about the organisation's mission: respect for all (https://fsc.org/en/about-us).

For years, foresters have questioned the FSC certification process in Russia and Belarus, where all forests are owned by the totalitarian state system; furthermore, Belarus ranks first in the world in terms of the proportion of the country's forests that are certified.

It is clear that what is happening in these countries does not align with FSC values, and it is hypocrisy of the highest order to continue FSC certification there; therefore, the FSC must immediately suspend the operation of all FSC certificates in Russia and Belarus.

On the part of ASI, the accreditation of the FSC and other sustainability monitoring bodies (MSC, etc.) should be immediately suspended for certification bodies based in Russia, for example: Russian Register www.rusregister.ru and Forest Certification LLC: https://fcert.ru/

We call on the FSC and ASI to defend democratic values through actions, not just words, and to stop supporting war criminals and the economies of these countries. The timber harvested as a result of Russian and Belarusian forestry, the funds raised, and the taxes paid are being used to power the Russian war machine, killing and terrorising civilians. You will see a portrait of Putin in every Russian forestry office behind the manager's desk.

Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes!