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.

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.

On July 11, the Pereslavl District Court announced the verdict for Sergei Abramov, a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). The court found the scientist guilty of funding extremist activities (Part 1, Article 282.3 of the Russian Criminal Code) and imposed a fine of 150,000 rubles (approximately $1,500). The charges stemmed from seven donations totaling 7,000 rubles (~$70) to the FBK (the transliterated Russian acronym for Fond Borby s Korruptsiyey — the Anti-Corruption Foundation founded by Alexey Navalny). While the legal ordeal has concluded, Abramov’s return to an active professional life remains a distant prospect. In an interview with T-invariant prior to the verdict, Sergei Abramov described how his presence on the “extremists and terrorists” list has led to what he calls, if not a “civil death,” then severe civil disability.

In a previous Plagiarism Navigator investigation, we exposed Iranian scholars who defended stolen Russian dissertations—translated into Tajik—at Tajik universities. They exploited a loophole known as “dissertation tourism,” which offers a backdoor into the global academic community: via Tajikistan and Russia’s Higher Attestation Commission (VAK). Unsurprisingly, Tajik scholars themselves have embraced this backdoor enthusiastically. With the highest number of plagiarized dissertations per capita, Tajikistan tops Dissernet’s global rankings by a wide margin. Today, we examine the career of Kobiljon Khushvakhtzoda—a former provincial accountant who climbed the ranks to become Chairman of Tajikistan’s Academy of Sciences.