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No Mosquito in the Ointment: How Russia Doomed a Vital Scientific Initiative in Africa

In August 2025, the promising Target Malaria project aimed at combating malaria using modified mosquitoes was abruptly shut down in Burkina Faso. The country’s government sealed the laboratories, destroyed the insects, and sprayed insecticides, labeling the experiment a threat to sovereignty. Many scientists from around the world called this decision a catastrophe: gene drive technology could have permanently rid Africa of malaria, which claims 600,000 lives annually. T-Invariant has uncovered how a Russian-coordinated disinformation campaign, anti-Western sentiments, and local activists led to the halt of one of the continent’s most promising scientific projects.

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.

From a “Hooligan University” to a “State Civilization”: How Nikita Anisimov Turned HSE into an Ordinary Russian University in Just a Few Years

Over the past three and a half years of active sanctions policy, only four rectors of Russian universities have been added to Western “blacklists.” The most prominent among them is Nikita Anisimov, only the second rector in the history of the Higher School of Economics (HSE). T-invariant reports on how, under his leadership, HSE has once again outpaced all other universities, but this time — in militarization, promotion of the pro-war ‘Z’ ideology, participation in the Kremlin’s propaganda machine, and direct involvement — by Anisimov himself, his team, and even students — on the front lines and in occupied territories.

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PLAGIARISM NAVIGATOR

Through individual cases of international academic plagiarism, we examine the global-scale imitation of scholarly activity

CHRONICLES OF PERSECUTION OF SCIENTISTS

CREATORS

Essays on scientific activities of emigrant scientists from the Russian Empire

The Perils of the Pivot East: Why Serious Scientists Are Now Teaming Up with Fraudsters

Recently, Russian scientists, whose scientific portfolios include hundreds of significant achievements, have unexpectedly begun utilizing co-authors from the Middle East and Southeast Asia with questionable reputations. Is this phenomenon related to the reorientation of Russian science “to the east”? This is discussed in the new issue of “Plagiarism Navigator.

Assault on Sovereignty, or The Kremlin Kicks the Dog. Why Members of Russia’s Anti-War Committee Were Accused of Attempting a Violent Seizure of Power

Russia’s FSB has opened a criminal case, accusing Mikhail Khodorkovsky and members of the Anti-War Committee of attempting a violent takeover and forming a terrorist organization. The list of the accused includes Eugene Koonin, head of the Evolutionary Genomics Laboratory at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and member of the T-invariant coordinating council, as well as tech entrepreneur Mikhail Kokorich, founder and CEO of Destinus. T-invariant has learned just how unexpected these charges of especially grave crimes were for them and how they might impact their lives.

Academic Freedom is Eroding Even in Democracies: New Report from Scholars at Risk

Each year, the organization Scholars at Risk (SAR) releases the Free to Think report, which acts as a global barometer for academic freedom. The latest edition, published on October 1, 2025, highlights a troubling trend: since 2018, declines in academic freedom metrics have emerged not just in autocracies but also in long-established democracies. The report, covering July 2024 to June 2025, documents 395 attacks worldwide. Although the total numbers show only a modest increase from the previous year, incidents threatening the physical safety of students and faculty have nearly doubled.

Russian Books in Exile: Secret Routes and Bookish Heroes

Following the start of the war, dozens of Russian-language small presses sprang up beyond Russia’s borders. Recently, their representatives — Aglaia Asheshova (“Turgenev Library”), Igor Ivanov (Skaryna Press), Yakov Klots (Tamizdat Project), Evgeny Kogan (“Babel Books,” Tel Aviv), Maxim Kurnikov (“Echo Book”), and Alexander Gavrilov (Vidim Books) — gathered for a panel discussion at the “Prague Book Tower” book fair (Sept’25).

“Not an Enemy, but a Friend of the People”: The Trial of a Kurchatov Institute Employee

The Gatchina District Court has resumed hearings in the case of Dmitry Bogmut, a technician at the Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute named after B.P. Konstantinov (part of the Kurchatov Institute). After the onset of the war in Ukraine, Bogmut posted anti-war videos in a private thread on a forum with only a dozen users. He has been held in a pre-trial detention center for a year and a half and faces up to ten years in prison. Court hearings are regularly attended by a crowd of men in camouflage, seemingly organized as “extras”, identified as “Donbas volunteers.” Meanwhile, the names of activists supporting Bogmut have been publicly disclosed by state news agencies, leading to threats against them.

Next-Generation Skin: How a Tel Aviv Innovation Accelerates Burn Healing

Laboratory-grown skin grafts are already part of the medical toolkit. However, a project from Tel Aviv University, supported by Zimin Institutes, promises a breakthrough in near-authentic skin transplant: dense, elastic, and multi-layered. In experimental mice, hair even grows at the burn site. T-Invariant explores how this technology was developed and how close it is to clinical application.

From Global Citizens to the Russian World: Deputy Speaker Celebrates Her Victory over the International Baccalaureate

The push to have the International Baccalaureate (IB) designated as an “undesirable organization” was orchestrated by Anna Kuznetsova, Deputy Speaker of the State Duma (Russia’s lower house of parliament), and, likely, the family of Konstantin Malofeev and Maria Lvova-Belova. It was Kuznetsova who requested for inspections of IB schools by prosecutors and the education oversight authority Rosobrnadzor, leading to administrative cases against teachers and administrators. The “monarchist-patriotic faction” convinced the enforcement agencies that IB schools foster “global citizens” and “emphasize the protection of LGBTQ+ rights.” Within a day, most schools erased any mention of IB and submitted statements to withdraw from the organization.

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.

“Baccalaureate Leaders Promote Non-Traditional Values,” Claims Russia’s Prosecutor General. Elite Schools’ IB Programs Coveted by Putin’s Elite Abruptly Banned

“This is a gauntlet thrown at the feet of the judiciary.” Lawyer Ekaterina Mishina on why the US President believes his words trump court rulings

Trump’s clash with the US judicial system is taking on alarming forms. On June 27, the Supreme Court (in a 6-3 decision along conservative lines) issued a ruling that drastically limits the ability of lower federal judges to block presidential executive orders nationwide. From now on, judges can only block the president’s actions in relation to specific plaintiffs. This ruling marked Trump’s first major court victory of the year. What comes next for America? T-invariant asked lawyer Ekaterina Mishina for clarification.

The Rectors’ Hot Seat. Since 2012, about one hundred university heads have faced criminal prosecution

The year 2025 isn’t over yet, but we already know of 12 instances of criminal prosecutions against rectors of Russian universities, as well as 10 sentences handed down to them. And this isn’t a record: in the last pre-war year of 2021, law enforcement took interest in 17 university leaders. This is how the process of elite turnover is unfolding in higher education, which Vladimir Putin initiated after returning to the presidential seat in 2012. T-invariant examined the stories of criminal prosecutions of rectors from 2012 to 2025 and found that leading a university is no less dangerous than serving as a deputy to a governor or minister.

Fly Me to the Moon: Why Russia’s Space Ambitions Are Stuck in Low Earth Orbit

After Donald Trump’s inauguration as president, there was talk of rebooting U.S.–Russian cooperation across many fields — space included. In Moscow, hopes were pinned on the “Luna” program, anticipating that it could be pursued jointly with the US program, ideally as a joint venture with the United States. Is there any real future for U.S.–Russian cooperation in space? And could Russia’s lunar program plausibly be its centerpiece? Vadim Lukashevich, an aerospace expert, takes stock.

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