T-invariant continues its project in which Russian scientists and academics, speaking anonymously, share how their lives and work have changed amid the war and the ever-tightening grip of state control. In this installment, a Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences from the Volga Federal District discusses staffing issues, funding challenges in Russian science, and the widespread detachment from the war. 

T-invariant, co-founder of Dissernet Andrey Rostovtsev and community project coordinator Larisa Melikhova continue their “Plagiarism Navigator”. Through carefully selected cases of international scientific plagiarism, we reveal how academic activity is being faked on a planetary scale. In this third installment, we investigate the story of a prominent Serbian scholar who engaged in both purchased co-authorship and blatant plagiarism. 

A verdict is expected imminently for Sergei Abramov, a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). On March 25, he turned 68, but the last two years have been erased by the FSB: Abramov stands accused of financing extremism—specifically, seven donations totaling 7,000 rubles to Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). The trial, now dragging on for nearly a year, has seen the scientist attempting to prove that the prosecution failed to establish who authorized the payments or their intended recipient. He has also challenged the validity of a linguistic analysis of his Facebook posts conducted by a bachelor’s-degree law graduate. Abramov faces up to eight years in prison, and his family fears he may not survive incarceration. 

Vladimir Putin’s eldest daughter is now publicly positioned as a major scientist with a “world-class laboratory”. Her Hirsch index is extremely low, which did not prevent Vorontsova from winning a large RNF grant on par with the country’s most successful scientists.

In the coming days, the U.S. Senate is expected to confirm the new director of the National Institutes of Health. The key institution of American science has come under pressure from the Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE), which is headed by Elon Musk. Why the reforms initiated by Donald Trump’s people are reminiscent of the situation in Germany in the 1930s and how the DOGE plans threaten the development of science – the head of one of the laboratories of the National Institute of Health told T-invariant.

Following Donald Trump’s election and his initial presidential steps, it became abundantly clear: the world will never be the same. Who—or what—can save Ukraine today? Can private businesses support initiatives aiding Ukrainians and Russians opposing the war? Was Navalny doomed to die after the war began? What is the actual impact of international sanctions on Russia? How are Trump and Putin alike? T-invariant discussed these questions with economist Konstantin Sonin, a professor at the University of Chicago.