Recruitment of students into the Unmanned Aerial Systems Forces (UASF) of the Russian Army is turning into a new wave of mobilization. Four years after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense, with the assistance of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, is replenishing troop numbers by drawing on students from colleges and universities. T-invariant examines how the mechanisms for recruiting contract soldiers have changed in recent months: first it was students from technical universities, then those facing expulsion, and now it has reached all students.

Doctor of Medical Sciences Alexey Dudarev spent 25 years as the lead author of regular monitoring reports on pollution in the Arctic originating from Russia. After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, official participation by Russian scientists in the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) working group of the international Arctic Council was paused, but contacts resumed in 2025 — something Maria Zakharova of the Russian Foreign Ministry announced enthusiastically. The joy was short-lived: less than a year later, the FSB arrested Dudarev, and the new five-year Arctic pollution monitoring report will likely be released without up-to-date Russian data — for the first time since 1991.

Two years ago, on February 13, 2024, the Appellate Military Court toughened the sentence of publicist, sociologist, and political scientist Boris Kagarlitsky. The scholar, accused of “public calls for terrorism” (in a YouTube video discussing the explosion of the Crimean Bridge), had his previously imposed fine replaced with five years in a general-regime correctional colony. T-invariant explains why one of the most prominent left-wing intellectuals was not left at liberty and why even careful criticism of the authorities in today’s Russia often ends in a prison term.

The Russian American Science Association (RASA) expresses its strong support for its member, the renowned scholar in the field of American studies, Ivan Kurilla, in response to the decision of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation to include him in the registry of “foreign agents.” We consider this decision politically motivated and discriminatory.

Following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Western coalition introduced an unprecedented wave of sanctions against Russia. By the end of 2025, nearly 24,000 Russian legal entities and individuals are under restrictions — three times more than in Iran and five times more than in Syria or North Korea. Yet, despite the impact on Russian universities and research institutes, many of them remain unaffected by sanctions.

On December 19, Alexander Nesterenko — Candidate of Philosophical Sciences and associate professor at Bauman Moscow State Technical University — was sentenced to three years in prison for Ukrainian songs included in his playlist in the VKontakte social network. T-invariant reports how exactly the philosophy department lecturer and amateur historian reacted to his verdict, what he said in his final statement, and what his wife — whom he met at rockabilly jive dance classes shortly before his arrest and married while already in pretrial detention — now plans to do.

22-year-old mathematician Leonid Katz, a graduate of the “Intellectual” school for gifted children and holder of a bachelor’s degree from the Higher School of Economics, has been arrested on treason charges. For the previous two months he was subjected to so-called carousel arrests. Katz is accused of making donations to a charitable fund that assists Ukrainian children. After his detention, he was tortured — T-invariant learned this from two sources.

The DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) policy and Trump’s actions to eliminate such initiatives are sparking heated debates among scholars. Some see DEI principles as the politicization of science, a form of censorship, and a violation of meritocracy. Others strongly disagree. T-invariant spoke with sociologist and historian Dmitry Dubrovsky about how DEI mechanisms worked in the United States, why they face so much criticism from the academic community, and what Trump’s policy on inclusion and diversity will lead to.