About
SUN
The Syria-Ukraine Network (SUN)
is a coalition of prominent organizations and individuals in Syria, Ukraine and their diasporas, working and organizing together in the following fields:
- The provision of medical aid under the circumstances of a Russian invasion and best practices for support of civil defense forces and first responders.
- Legal documentation, best practices, and support for civil defense forces and first responders.
- Countering disinformation and propaganda of the Russian government, while shining light in the media and to Western policymakers on the crimes being committed by Russian forces;
- War crimes documentation, including best practices and advice, as well as facilitating contacts with Western Ministries of Justice, law firms, and legal experts and organizations;
- Resistance of civilians against the military aggression of Russia;
- Advocacy.
SUN Coordinator
& Co-Founder
Olga Lautman
Olga Lautman is a coordinator of SUN, non-resident Senior Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), and a senior investigative researcher at the Institute for European Integrity. Olga’s research focuses on the cross-section of organized crime and intelligence operations in Russia, their impact on the West, and the monitoring of intelligence operations conducted by the Kremlin to destabilize democratic practices and influence foreign elections. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion, Olga has worked closely on issues involving war crimes and Russia’s Defense Ministry’s continued evasion of sanctions. Olga is fluent in English, Russian, and conversational in Ukrainian.
SUN Origin
The Syria-Ukraine Network came together shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The scenes of carpet bombed cities, tortures, disappearances, wide scale atrocities, and war crimes were all too familiar to Syrians, under the Assad regime with the full support of Russia, who endured this for over a decade. Syrians had a lot of experience of dealing with these atrocities on a large-scale and wanted to help Ukrainians. The Syria-Ukraine Network began forming a coalition of Ukranian and Syrian organizations, and individuals, that have been working together on issues of accountability of all war crimes committed in Syria and Ukraine, the sharing of best practices for civil defense forces and first responders, advocacy in media and government, combatting of disinformation, documentation of war crimes, and medical aid. SUN is a powerful alliance formed to advocate, demand accountability, and seek justice.
