We launched exactly two years ago. T-invariant seeks to amplify the voices of scientists who oppose the war and resist archaic mindsets. Since then, these outdated ideologies have increasingly taken hold across continents. We are diligently working to find our own way to combat this. But in this search, it’s vital for us to know we’re not alone. We were delighted to receive birthday messages from our heroes, readers, and colleagues.

T-invariant, co-founder of Dissernet Andrei Rostovtsev, and community project coordinator Larisa Melikhova are launching “Plagiarism Navigator”. Through select cases of international academic plagiarism, the project reveals how imitation of scholarly activity operates on a planetary scale. The first installment tells the story of a Chinese scholar who defended a dissertation in Kharkiv—a work essentially composed of Ukrainian translations of two Russian-language theses. 

Leading academic institutions like Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and ITMO University have emerged as key drivers of Russia’s military-technological ambitions. These universities now host the intellectual hubs behind “drone swarm” systems—a cutting-edge frontier in military unmanned aerial vehicles. This report by T-invariant examines the most striking examples of how Russia’s education system is being militarized, detailing state-led efforts to recruit young specialists, university students, and even schoolchildren into drone development programs. 

The latest censorship scandal in Russia involves historian and political scientist Konstantin Pakhalyuk’s book “In Search of Russian Antiquity”, which was removed from the website of the publishing house “Novoye Literaturnoye Obozreniye” following a complaint by the Orthodox activist group “Sorok Sorokov”. The group accused Pakhlyuk of criticizing the Soviet Army in his social media posts, alleging he had accused it of violence against civilians and liberated concentration camp prisoners. Shortly before this, T-invariant spoke with Pakhlyuk about the most significant shifts in the historical memory of World War II.

During the trial of physicist Oleg Kabov, it emerged that the criminal case had been initiated by two of his former students. One of them, after threatening Kabov, joined the FSB (Federal Security Service of Russia), after which the second student filed a denunciation against his former scientific supervisor. It also became clear that the embezzlement case lacked any financial evidence, and that the allegations regarding the falsification of Kabov’s scientific results had been manufactured by FSB officers. The prosecution is demanding a seven-year prison term, a significant fine, and a three-year prohibition on conducting scientific research. The defendant has asked the judge to reopen the investigation. The judge must now decide whether there is sufficient information to deliver a verdict or if the case should be sent back for further investigation.

Incident Date: February 7, 2025
Breach Type: Foreign Agent
Institution: Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University