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Chronicles of the persecution of scientists

Chronicle of the Persecution of Scientists No. 35

T-invariant is publishing its latest regular report, Chronicle of the Persecution of Scientists No. 35, dated July 31, 2026. Russia’s State Duma has passed a law aimed at political émigrés. Human rights advocates say it is effectively a citizenship-stripping law. The Russian authorities are expanding the practice of freezing bank accounts outside of any specific case, on the basis of “suspicion” alone. Extrajudicial persecution is becoming ever more widespread.

Chronicle of the Persecution of Scientists No. 34

T-invariant is issuing its regular report, the Chronicle of the Persecution of Scientists, No. 34, dated June 30, 2026. From June 8 to 14, the fourth edition of the “You Are Not Alone” marathon in support of political prisoners took place, raising more than 14 million rubles over the week. The funds raised are used to help people in Russia who are imprisoned on politically motivated charges, and to their families — covering the cost of legal representation, prison visits, deposits into inmates’ accounts with the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN), food, and medicine.

Chronicle of the Persecution of Scientists No. 33

T-invariant releases its latest press release, “Chronicle of the Persecution of Scientists” No. 33, dated May 31, 2026. The major event of the past month was the conclusion of the “hypersonics case.” On May 5, 2026, a Novosibirsk court handed down sentences to physicists Valery Zvegintsev and Vladislav Galkin. Both scientists were sentenced to 12 years and 6 months in a maximum-security penal colony under Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (high treason).

Chronicle of the Persecution of Scientists No. 32

T-invariant releases the latest issue of the Chronicle of the Persecution of Scientists: No. 32, dated April 30, 2026.  At the end of April, the Russian government agreed to revise and soften the draft law on artificial intelligence published by the Ministry of Digital Development in March. The bill was restrictive and prohibitive in nature, and its enforcement, especially in its original version, could have led to numerous prosecutions of developers, companies, and even users by the FSB. T-invariant wrote about this in its commentary. However, active criticism of the bill led the government to retreat.

Chronicle of the Persecution of Scientists No. 31

T-invariant publishes the latest press release in the Chronicle of the Persecution of Scientists series: No. 31, dated March 31, 2026. Two more leading American universities – the University of California, Berkeley, and Tufts University – have been declared undesirable organizations. This has already caused alarm not only among scholars, but also among IT engineers. The situation is becoming increasingly complicated: developers are finding themselves in a zone of legal uncertainty.

Chronicles of the Persecution of Scientists No. 26

T-invariant and the CISRUS Center release the latest press release “Chronicles of the Persecution of Scientists” No. 26 dated October 31, 2025. The main event of this issue of the “Chronicles of the Persecution of Scientists”: the FSB has initiated a criminal case against 23 members of the Anti-War Committee of Russia (AWCR) for violent seizure of power (Article 278 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and organization of a terrorist community or participation therein (Parts 1 and 2 of Article 205.4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

Chronicles of the Persecution of Scientists No. 25

T-invariant and the CISRUS center are releasing another press release “Chronicles of the Persecution of Scientists” No. 25 dated September 30, 2025. The first issue of “Chronicles of the Persecution of Scientists” was published exactly two years ago on September 30, 2023. Today we will summarize some results of the work of the repressive machine of the Russian authorities.

Chronicles of the Persecution of Scientists No. 24

T-invariant and the CISRUS center are releasing another press release “Chronicles of the Persecution of Scientists” No. 24 dated August 31, 2025. On September 1, amendments to the “foreign agents” law come into force. These amendments directly affect many scientists who are in our database: their books have disappeared from Russian bookstores, and their lectures and podcasts are disappearing from portals.

T-invariant and CISRUS launched a chronicle of violations of the rights and freedoms of scientists and teachers

Dismissals, fines, stigmatization, criminal cases, torture — all this awaits in Russia those who are trying to tell the truth, oppose war, protect peace, criticize the authorities or simply honestly do their academic and teaching work .
T-invariant and the CISRUS Centerwill work together to chronicle the persecution of scientists in Russia for as long as it continues. If you have witnessed or been the target of academic harassment, please contact us at [email protected].
The chronicle records violations of the rights and freedoms of scientists and teachersas citizens of the Russian Federation, as well as violations of their academic rights and freedoms by the leadership of their scientific institution.