Chronicles of persecution of scientists

Date of incident: September 29, 2023
Type of violation: the ethics commission of St. Petersburg State University demanded dismissal
Institution: St. Petersburg State University

Summary: On September 29, 2023, a meeting of the St. Petersburg State University Ethics Commission was held. The Commission received an appeal from Vice-Rector for Legal Affairs Yu. V. Penov with a request to provide an ethical assessment of the actions and behavior of the senior teacher of the Russian Language Department S. V. Drugoveyko-Dolzhanskaya. The commission came to the conclusion “that the actions of S. V. Drugoveyko-Dolzhanskaya are incompatible with the status of a university student at St. Petersburg State University.”

Sources: Paper, Decision of the St. Petersburg State University Ethics Commission

Date of the incident: September 7, 2023
Type of violation: conviction for treason
Institution: Astrakhan State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering

Summary: The Moscow City Court has sentenced 21-year-old student of the Astrakhan State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Gleb Verdiyan, to six years' imprisonment in a strict penal colony for treason against the state (Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). This was announced by the press service of the courts of general jurisdiction in Moscow. In addition to the prison term, Verdiyan was sentenced to a fine of 200 thousand rubles and a restriction of liberty for one year.

Sources: Current Time, Mediazona, BBC News

Date of the incident: September 1, 2023
Type of violation: Dismissal
Institution: Georgy Arbatov Institute for U.S. and Canada Studies Russian Academy of Sciences (RAN)

Summary: Russian historian and political scientist Valery Garbuzov confirmed to TASS on September 2 that he was dismissed from his post as director of the Institute for U.S. and Canada of RAN, at the initiative of the founder:" Yes, yesterday an order was signed to terminate my contract. The reason as such is not stated there, there is such an article of the employment contract - at the initiative of the founder, that's how it is formulated."

Source: TASS, "Nezavisimaya Gazeta"

Date of incident: 25 August 2023
Type of violation: a criminal case on justification of terrorism was initiated
Institution: Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics

Summary: A criminal case was opened against mathematician Azat Miftakhov, who in 2021 was sentenced to six years in a penal colony on charges of breaking a window in a United Russia office, for justifying terrorism (Article 205.2 Part 1 of the Criminal Code). On 17 August, Rosfinmonitoring added Miftakhov to the register of terrorists and extremists. At that time it was not officially reported under which article the mathematician was charged.

Sources: RTVI (Telegram channel), Mediazona

Date: August 25, 2023
The court declared the dismissal illegal
Institution: RANEPA

Summary: The Koptevsky District Court of Moscow partially satisfied the claim of former municipal deputy, associate professor Yulia Galyamina, who challenged her dismissal from the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA). This is stated on the court's website. In Galyamina’s telegram channel writes: “I was reinstated at RANEPA as an assistant professor. They collected 115 thousand for illegal dismissal. Of these, 10 are compensation for moral damage (we asked for 500).”

Sources: Telegram channel of Yulia Galyamina, Mediazona, court website

Date of incident: July 26, 2023
Type of violation: arrest, charge of justifying terrorism, fine
Institution: Moscow Higher School of Social and Economic Sciences (Shaninka)

Summary: July 26, 2023 The Syktyvkar City Court arrested sociologist and political scientist Boris Kagarlitsky (recognized as a foreign agent in the Russian Federation in 2018) for two months on charges of calls for terrorism. On September 21, 2023, by decision of the Syktyvkar court, the deadline was extended until November 24, 2023. On September 26, 2023, the Savyolovsky Court of Moscow fined Boris Kagarlitsky (included in the list of terrorists and extremists) 40 thousand rubles for not identifying a foreign agent in his publications.

Sources: Gazeta.ru, TASS from September 21, 2023, TASS from September 26, 2023.

Date of incident: July 26, 2023
Type of violation: house arrest
Institution: Higher School of Economics

Summary: The Basmanny District Court of Moscow placed 22-year-old Ivan Trofimov and 21-year-old Alina Olekhnovich under house arrest until September 24 in the case of participation in the activities of an extremist organization. Trofimova and Olekhnovich are students of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, according to the university’s website, both are studying in the field of “cinema and video art” at the Department of Contemporary Art. Propagandist Vladimir Solovyov wrote about the detention of young people in his Telegram channel.

Source: Mediazona

Date of incident: July 7, 2023
Type of violation: dismissal
Institution: Moscow State University

Summary: On June 23, the Ministry of Justice recognized candidate of physical and mathematical sciences Mikhail Lobanov as a foreign agent, which technically prohibits him from teaching. Lobanov writes: “I saw a photo of the order dismissing me from the position of associate professor of mechanics and mathematics at Moscow State University. The order is dated July 7, issued and signed on behalf of the acting. Rector of Moscow State University by Vice-Rector Andrei Fedyanin.”

Source: RBC

Date of incident: July 4, 2023
Type of violation: violation of autonomy
Institution: Center of Historical Memory, Perm

Summary: On July 4, the Center for Historical Memory (successor to the Perm department of the human rights research organization Memorial) was fined 300 thousand rubles in the case of “discrediting” the Russian army (Article 20.3.3 Part 1 Administrative Code). Since the decision was made in absentia, the exact reason for drawing up the protocol is currently unknown. Presumably, the reason could have been the appeal of the International Memorial on February 24 last year on the Perm Memorial website. The same domain is now used by the Center for Historical Memory.

Source: PROPERM.RU

Date of incident: 06/02/2023
Type of violation: dismissal
Institution: St. Petersburg State University

Summary: The management of St. Petersburg State University (SPbSU) dismissed Mikhail Belousov, associate professor at the Institute of History, for distributing materials “discrediting the conduct of a special military operation by the armed forces of the Russian Federation and insulting the memory of those killed in the line of military duty.” The decision was justified by the fact that criticism of the war “violates the moral traditions of the university and generally accepted ethical standards.”

Sources: Mediazona, Fontanka

Date of incident: May 26, 2023
Type of violation: declared as a foreign agent
Institution: independent researcher
Summary: The message from the Ministry of Justice says: “A.S. Arkhipova in cooperation with foreign agents took part in the production of some certain materials and participated in the distribution of these materials to an unlimited number of people. She disseminated false information about the activities of government bodies of the Russian Federation and the actions of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. She opposed the special military operation in Ukraine”.

Sources:: Interfax, FB Ivan Kurilla, E1.

Date of incident: May 26, 2023
Type of violation: recognition by a foreign agent, dismissal
Institution: Novosibirsk Novocollege

Summary: On May 26, college director Sergey Chernyshov was recognized as a foreign agent. The main reason is the refusal to hold "Conversations about the Important" in the college. For some time he remained the director. As Chernyshov wrote in his VK, a foreign agent cannot teach, but he can organize the learning process, that is, he can work as a director. But this state did not last long - on June 15, Chernyshov left the post of director of the New College.

Sources: Siberia.Realities, VK by Sergey Chernyshov (posts on May 26 and June 15)

Date of incident: May 22, 2023
Type of violation: forced voting
Institution: Mordovia State University

Synopsis: Rector Dmitry Glushko forced students of Mordovian State University to vote for him in the United Russia primaries. The demands were distributed through the Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Law, Irina Ginzburg. Glushko plans to become a member of the regional parliament.

Source: telegram channel SOTA

Date of incident: May 11, 2023
Type of violation: dismissal
Institution: Siberian Institute of Business, Management and Psychology

Brief: Teacher and activist Natalia Podolyak was fired from the Siberian Institute of Business, Management and Psychology, where she ran a sports club. The motivational part of the order states that the dismissal was caused by violations of the law on countering extremism and violations of labor duties. Earlier, Natalia Podolyak was fined for discrediting the Russian army in connection with her comment that the Russian military in Ukraine is fighting "on foreign soil." In addition, in 2020 she was sentenced to 10 days for “insulting the police.” According to Podolyak, she had no disciplinary sanctions for her work.

Sources: Radio Liberty, Natalia's FB post Podolyak (order of dismissal)

Date of incident: April 12, 2023
Type of violation: arrest
Institution: A. K. Ailamazyan Program Systems Institute of RAS

Summary: Corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Sergei Abramov was arrested under the article on financing extremism (Part 1 of Article 282.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). By a resolution of the Pereslavsky District Court of the Yaroslavl Region dated April 12, 2023, a preventive measure was chosen against him in the form of house arrest for a period until June 10, 2023. House arrest was extended until August 10. On this charge, Abramov faces up to 5 years in prison in accordance with Part 1 of Art. 282.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

More details in T-invariant

Date of incident: April 7, 2023
Type of violation: arrest
Institution: Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Summary: On April 7, Valery Zvegintsev, Doctor of Technical Sciences, founder of the laboratory "Aerogasdynamics of High Velocities" of the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, was arrested. Earlier, two more employees of the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Anatoly Maslov and Alexander Shiplyuk were arrested. All of them became suspects in a criminal case on “high treason” (Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

More about this case wrote by T-invariant

Date of incident: April 6, 2023
Type of violation: fine
Institution: Novgorod University

Synopsis: In January, police drew up an administrative report against archaeologist Pavel Kolosnitsyn from Novgorod University for his comment on a post about mobilization, in which he assessed Russia’s losses in Ukraine. On February 21, the court fined Kolosnitsyn 30 thousand rubles. for abuse of freedom of the media (part 9 of article 13.15 of the Administrative Code). The scientist said he would appeal the decision. On April 6, the Novgorod District Court left the court decision unchanged. Earlier, Kolosnitsyn said that a denunciation against him was written by an acquaintance from another city.
Source: North.Realities

Date of incident: March 31, 2023
Type of violation: persecution, violation of autonomy
Institution: Free University

Summary: In 2021, the organizers registered the Free University NGO in Latvia. On March 31, 2023, the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation recognized the activity of the educational project as "undesirable". Russian laws make it possible to bring citizens to administrative and then criminal liability for any "participation in the activities" of such organizations.

Sources: T -invariant, Free University

Date of incident: March 21, 2023
Type of violation: accusation of repeated discrediting of the Russian Army
Institution: Memorial. Human Rights Center
Summary: As Interfax reported on March 21: “A criminal case has been opened against former board member of the liquidated International Memorial Society (convicted as a foreign agent in the Russian Federation) Oleg Orlov for re-discrediting the Russian Armed Forces”. The case was initiated under Article 280.3 Part 1 (on the repeated discrediting). The maximum punishment provided for this crime is imprisonment for a term of up to three years. A prohibition of departure was chosen as a preventive action.

Sources:: Interfax, FB Center Memorial.

Date of incident: March 20, 2023
Type of violation: coercion to sign a summons to the military enlistment office to receive a diploma
Institution: Moscow Aviation Institute

Brief: Students of the Moscow Aviation Institute who graduated from the specialist's programs reported that they are being refused diplomas until they sign the summons to the military registration and enlistment office. One of the students said that along with the diploma, it is required to sign a summons in the office where diplomas are issued, and he sits as a military commissar. This takes place in the branch of the institute on the Taganskaya metro station.
Source: Radio Liberty, RBC

Date of incident: March 16, 2023
Type of violation: coercion to sign a summons to the military enlistment office to receive a diploma
Institution: Penza State University

Summary: In March 2023, Andrey Surkov, military commissar of the Penza Region, announced that Penza State University graduates will receive subpoenas along with their diplomas to be registered in their military specialty.. An agreement has been reached only with this university. Surkov said that the call for military training is over - there are more than 140 people. At the same time, Surkov said that the following agendas would be annulled.
Source: telegram channel Idel.Realii

Date of incident: March 15, 2023
Violation type: expulsion
Institution: Mari State University

Summary: Third-year student Viktor Novogorsky was expelled from the Mari State University. Failure was cited as the official reason. However, the Mari Ushem organization believes that the student was expelled due to his participation in the activities of this organization, aimed at raising the self-awareness of the Mari people.

Source: Idel.Realities

Date of incident: March 15, 2023
Type of violation: dismissal
Institution: Moscow International University

Synopsis: Konstantin Miroshnikov, teacher of the Introduction to Journalism course and former employee of Echo of Moscow radio station, was dismissed by agreement of the parties from Moscow International University. The dismissal was the result of denunciations. According to the author of one of the denunciations, Miroshnikov gave students a report on the topic “A journalist and his activities.” When grading, the opinions of the teacher and the student regarding the text about the VGTRK employee differed, a denunciation was written against the teacher, and Konstantin Miroshnikov was fired.

Source: Radio Liberty

Date of incident: March 11, 2023
Type of violation: arrest
Institution: Ural State Law University

Summary: Freshman Nikita Menshov has become a new defendant in a criminal case of high treason. On March 11, at 5:35 am, Menshov was detained in Vladikavkaz by a patrol of the police department No. 2 of the Zaterechny district for 15 days for "obscene language." But on March 25, he was not released. On May 11, TASS, citing the secret service, claimed that Menshov was suspected of trying to go over to the side of the enemy. The agency calls it an "attempt" to commit treason.

Source: BBC Russian

Date of incident: March 10, 2023
Type of violation: violation of autonomy
Institution: Information and Analytical SOVA Center

Brief: On March 10, the Ministry of Justice filed a lawsuit to liquidate Information and Analysis SOVA Center. The lawsuit was filed as a result of an unscheduled inspection that took place in the organization from January 9 to February 4. “Violations” the department considered the participation of SOVA in events outside of Moscow - seminars and round tables in the Russian regions, as well as online conferences of the OSCE. All these “violations” were confirmed by employees of the Ministry of Justice with screenshots from SOVA website. The organization is currently appealing this decision.

Source: OVD-Info

Date of incident: March 7, 2023
Type of violation: fine
Institution: Pyatigorsk State University

Summary: The court fined Elena Kabakova, an associate professor at Pyatigorsk State University, 30,000 rubles under an article about discrediting the army because of her pacifist statements in a conversation with students.
Source: Caucasian Knot

Date of incident: January 26, 2023
Type of violation: threat of expulsion
Institution: College of St. Petersburg State Agrarian University "Tourism"

Summary: St. Petersburg State Agrarian University college students Ekaterina and Anastasia were summoned to the dean's office because they subscribed to the Smart Voting project's mailing list. They are threatened with expulsion, but the management claims that this is due to poor academic performance, although the recording of the conversation does not correspond to this. Both students claim that they signed up for the mailing list before the summer of 2021, that is, before the Smart Voting project was recognized as extremist.
Source: Fontanka

Date of incident: January 1, 2023
Type of violation: fine
Institution: Pervouralsk Metallurgical College

Summary: On January 11, Artem Izgagin, a mathematics teacher from the Pervouralsk Metallurgical College, was convicted of discrediting the Russian army. The court imposed a fine of 40 thousand rubles. After the start of the special operation, he posted several posts on social networks, in which the court saw "discrediting the army." State Duma deputy Alexander Khinshtein demanded that the teacher be fired for his publications.
Sources: E1.ru

Date of incident: December 27, 2022
Type of violation: Dismissal
Institution: Higher School of Economics (HSE), Moscow

Summary: On December 27, 2022, the Higher School of Economics (HSE) in Moscow fired Ilya Inishev, who has been a professor at the Higher School of Economics since 2010, where he headed the master's program in Cultural Studies.
Sources: Insider SibReal Doxa Code of Conduct for HSE University Staff

Date of incident: 2022 December

Type of violation: house arrest, expulsion

Institution: Northern (Arctic) University, Arkhangelsk

Summary: In December 2022, Russian authorities placed Olesya Kryvtsova, a student at Northern (Arctic) University, under house arrest after she spoke out on social media against Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Krivtsova was threatened with a term of up to seven years for discrediting the army and justifying terrorism. Krivtsova left house arrest and left the country. Currently lives in Lithuania.

Source: telegram channel Freedom for Olesya Krivtsova

Date of incident: 10/26/2022
Type of violation: Dismissal
Institution: Saint Petersburg State University

Summary: On October 26, 2022, Denis Skopin, a professor at Saint Petersburg State University (SPbGU), was fired after protesting against the mobilization of men liable for military service in Russia.
Sources: RFERL Bumaga

Date of incident: October 5, 2022
Type of violation: dismissal
Institution: branch of the Institute of Transport, Service and Tourism in the village of Vorotynets, Nizhny Novgorod Region

Summary: Olga Lizunkova taught English and German in the Nizhny Novgorod region. On September 22, 2022, after a couple, one of the students wrote a denunciation of her for talking with students about mobilization and the war with Ukraine. On October 5, a protocol was drawn up against Lizunkova on the “discrediting” of the army, after which she was suspended from teaching. The next day, she wrote a letter of resignation.
Source: Idelreal

Date of incident: September 21, 2022
Types of violation: dismissal, criminal case for "discrediting the Russian army".
Institution: Ivanovo Medical Academy.
Summary: February 26, 2022 Olga Nazarenko, PhD in Medicine, was detained in Ivanovo along with other activists.
On February 27, Olga held a solo picket, but 30 minutes later she was detained by the police. In total, about 8 protocols were drawn up against her.
On July 14, the Leninsky District Court issued a fine of 150,000 rubles for violating the rules for organizing a picket.
On August 22, 2023, Olga Nazarenko was detained in the courtroom after a hearing on a criminal case.
Source: Источник: OVD-Info

June 2, 2022
Type of violation:arrest, sentence to 8 and a half years in prison
Institution:M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University

Summary:On June 2, 2022, Dmitry Ivanov was accused of  “dissemination of defamatory information about the Russian military based on political hatred”,  says “Protest Moscow State University” telegram channel.
On March 7, 2023, Dmitry Ivanov was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison charged under the criminal article on disseminating “fakes” about the Russian army (Part 2 of Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
Source:: Support for political prisoners. Memorial, Moscow State University protest telegram channel, RBC

Date of incident: May 27, 2022
Type of violation: dismissal, fine
Institution: Kazan Federal University

Summary: The Academic Council of Kazan Federal University (KFU) did not renew the contract with Professor Nail Fatkullin, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. In early May 2022, he circulated among his colleagues an open letter demanding an end to "military actions in Ukraine". A few days later, the Kazan Prosecutor's Office issued a warning to the KFU professor. On May 27, the contract of the respected teacher with forty years of experience was not renewed.
On July 29, 2022, the Vakhitovsky District Court of Kazan found Nail Fatkullin guilty of "discrediting" the army (Article 20.3.3 Part 1 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation) and fined him 15,000 rubles for his anti-war letter.

Sources: Idel.Realii, VOT-TAK, Ibragim Fatkullin FB post (eng)

Date of incident: March 17, 2022.
Type of violation: arrest.
Institution: Kazan Federal University.
Summary: Kazan activists have not received approval for a mass picket in support of Andrey Boyarshinov, who has been in jail for over a year. The Executive Committee of Kazan did not approve the purpose of the action, considering it ambiguous and inconsistent with the law. Andrey Boyarshinov is a candidate of biological sciences and a former activist of the Navalny Headquarters in Kazan, who was detained in March 2022 under an article about calls for terrorist activities. He faces up to seven years in prison.
Source: telegram channel Freedom to Andrei Boyarshinov

April 12, 2021
Type of violation:Sentence to 12 years in a maximum security prison on charges of treason
Institution:The Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology

Summary:The case against Valery Golubkin was opened on April 12, 2021, on the same day he was arrested and sent to the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center. Physicist, employee of the Zhukovsky Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI), MIPT professor Valery Golubkin was accused of treason. Golubkin categorically denied his guilt. On June 26, 2023, the Moscow City Court sentenced Valery Golubkin to 12 years in a maximum security prison. The trial took place behind closed doors, since the materials of the criminal case are classified. The scientist insisted on his innocence.

Sources:: Current time, Kommersant, RIA Novosti

Date of incident: September 30, 2020
Type of violationя: arrest, sentence to 7.5 years in a maximum security prison
Institution: Tomsk State University
Summary: On September 30, 2020, 64-year-old scientist Alexander Lukanin was detained on suspicion of transferring certain technologies to China. On October 20, 2022, the Tomsk Regional Court found physicist Alexander Lukanin guilty of treason (Article 275 of the Criminal Code). Taking into account Article 64 of the Criminal Code, which provides for the imposition of a more lenient punishment than provided, he was sentenced to 7,5 years in a maximum security prison and restriction of freedom for two years. Sources: Meduza, TheMoscowTimes, Interfax