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Scientific Spoils: How Russian Plagiarists Appropriated Ukrainian Texts
T-invariant, co-founder of Dissernet Andrey Rostovtsev and community project coordinator Larisa Melikhova continue their “Plagiarism Navigator”. Through individual cases of international academic plagiarism, we examine the global-scale imitation of scholarly activity. The sixth installment examines how translated academic fraud became a commercialized scheme for Russian and Ukrainian scholars.
Don’t leave room 663: Moscow State University staff face total audit of all publications and speeches
As the bill granting the FSB control over scientists’ international cooperation advances through the Duma, universities have begun tightening scrutiny of all academic materials and public statements—under the guise of “state secret” checks. Though interagency guidelines on state secrecy were issued to universities over a decade ago, the era of total control is just beginning. Staff at Moscow State University (MSU) shared with T-invariant a new directive threatening to revoke bonuses and stipends for non-compliance. Similar orders have emerged at other institutions.
Alexey Raksha
Incident date: May 30, 2025
Violation type: foreign agent
Institution: independent researcher
Vera Krichevskaya: “Dmitry Zimin Is an Absolute Victor, While the Loser Is Russia”
The documentary Connected continues to screen at various venues worldwide. Last week, it was presented in Yerevan, Armenia, and at the Docaviv documentary film festival in Tel Aviv. The film chronicles the life and legacy of Dmitry Zimin — a legendary entrepreneur, founder of VympelCom, and philanthropist who established the Dynasty Foundation. How did the idea for this film take shape? What inspired its creation? In an interview with T-invariant, the film’s director, Vera Krichevskaya, shared details about the project and her encounters with a man whose life became a symbol of technological revolution and educational mission in Russia.
Homeopathic Offensive: The Duma Conquered, the RAS Under Siege
On May 19, the Commission on Combating Pseudoscience of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) issued a statement urging the exclusion of homeopathic drugs from mandatory clinical guidelines. It seemed like a routine step in the defense of scientific integrity, yet a document drafted in February waited three and a half months for publication. The reason lies in a fierce struggle within the RAS and beyond, where the homeopathic industry, backed by influential figures in the State Duma (Russia’s lower house of parliament) and top officials within the RAS, is mounting an offensive. From censorship to political insinuations about “NATO conspiracies,” T-invariant uncovers how pseudoscience is encroaching on science in Russia.
Yuri Pivovarov
Incident date: May 23, 2025
Violation type: foreign agent
Institution: INION
Trump Administration Systematically Undermines Biomedical Research
Donald Trump’s executive order on biosecurity, issued on May 5, 2025, has shocked American scientists: pathogen research has been halted, and DNA and RNA synthesis now requires government approval. This directly threatens vaccine development, genomic research, and even routine medical tests. Geneticist Dmitry Pruss speaks to T-invariant editor Alexander Sergeev about the escalating crisis in U.S. biomedical science, draws parallels with the Soviet past, and explains why these trends are dangerous for the entire world.
Minister Accused of Plagiarism: Ukrainians Target High-Ranking Official 
T-invariant, co-founder of Dissernet Andrey Rostovtsev and community project coordinator Larisa Melikhova continue their “Plagiarism Navigator”. Through individual cases of international academic plagiarism, we examine the global-scale imitation of scholarly activity. In the fifth installment, we examine the case of Andriy Vitrenko, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Education and Science, whose dissertation and academic papers have been flagged for plagiarism.
Eugene Shakhnovich: “If Harvard bends, something like the Soviet Party Committee will appear”
Harvard University refused to obey the Trump administration and sued the officials. Why is the whole world watching this conflict? What is being demanded of the university? What is Harvard defending? What role did DEI policy and anti-Semitism play in the attack on academic freedom? T-invariant talked to Eugene Shakhnovich, a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University.
“Serving a Criminal Regime”: Science in the Third Reich
In 2015, the archives of the Max Planck Society—one of Germany’s and the world’s leading scientific organizations—revealed human brain specimens illegally obtained in the 1940s. In 2020, documents exposed how the Kiel Institute for the World Economy aided the Wehrmacht’s conquest of Europe. Then, in 2022, Humboldt University published a study detailing how its own researchers had helped plan war crimes. Why, eight decades after WWII and the fall of the Nazi regime, does German academia continue to unearth such horrors? Can one be complicit in crimes without pulling a trigger—simply by optimizing war economies, promoting pseudoscience, or mass-producing politically expedient research—all while claiming that “science is apolitical”? These questions are explored in an investigative report by Natalia Supyan, PhD in Economics and German studies specialist.
“This bridge was burned”. Why did young scientists from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus not find a place in the United States?
Fellows of the prestigious Fulbright program faced big problems after the program’s sponsors (IIE and Cultural Vistas) were recognized as undesirable organizations in Russia in March 2024. T-invariant reported on this in detail last summer. What is happening today with young scientists from Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine?
The Second Iran-Iraq War: How a Professor from Sechenov University Ran a Plagiarism Operation in the Persian Gulf
T-invariant, co-founder of Dissernet Andrey Rostovtsev and community project coordinator Larisa Melikhova continue their “Plagiarism Navigator”. Through individual cases of international academic plagiarism, we examine the global-scale imitation of scholarly activity. In the fourth installment—an investigation centered on an unassuming lecturer from Sechenov University who infiltrated an Iran-Iraq publication scheme in top-tier European and American academic journals, establishing a seamless enterprise trading publications under the guise of his university’s reputation.
American biologist Sergei Mirkin: “People don’t believe that this is happening in the United States today”
American universities are being stripped of government funding. Some universities have announced hiring freezes this year. Others are laying off their staff. Still others – Columbia University, for example – have been left without government grants. We are also seeing interference in the substantive work of science. Why is the Trump administration turning on scientists? T-invariant talked to Tufts University endowment professor, biologist Sergei Mirkin, who has been working in the United States for 36 years.
“We ask for him to have a way to come to Israel before his health deteriorates.” The Israeli mathematical community supported the persecuted scientist
On April 10, the Israeli mathematical community published a statement in support of Russian mathematician Mikhail Volkov, who is being pursued by the FSB, accusing him of financing extremism. Earlier it became known about the initiation of criminal proceedings against the 70-year-old scientist. It also turned out that Volkov was fired “one day” from the Ural Federal University back in February after 48 years of work at the university.
Why Russian scientists are being deported from Sweden and denied the right to enter the Schengen zone
Russian scientists currently in Sweden are increasingly being denied permanent residence permits. And along with the refusal – a ban on entering the Schengen zone for a significant period of time. T-invariant talked to scientists who have been or could be affected by this measure and tried to understand what exactly worries the Swedish Migration Service.
Mikhail Volkov
Date of incident: April 3, 2025
Type of violation: criminal prosecution
Institution: Ural Federal University
Ekaterina Shulman
Date of incident: April 1, 2025
Type of violation: fine
Institution: Carnegie Berlin Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies
Andrey Soldatov: “Russian security services intimidate to the point of self-censorship”
Alexei Soldatov, a well-known scientist and entrepreneur, one of the founders of Runet, who was convicted in a case of abuse of power, has been sentenced to Ryazan region. In an interview with T-invariant, his son Andrei Soldatov, editor-in-chief of the website “Agentura.ru”, told what may be behind his father’s case, what FSB supervisors at large enterprises and universities are really doing, and why in Russia, despite the large number of convicted scientists and representatives of the IT-sphere, there are no sharashki 2.0.
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