The Ministry of Education and Science began collecting personal data of students and teachers who participated in international events in Russia and abroad in 2023. This is reported by the “We Can Explain” project, which received a letter from the department sent to universities.
The document says that the collection of lists with the names of participants in scientific events began on November 9. Employees of educational institutions must fill out and submit to the Ministry of Education and Science several forms with “detailed information” about them by December 22.
An anonymous interlocutor of “We Can Explain” from the department confirmed the authenticity of the letter. According to him, records of participants in international scientific events were kept before, but this was done less closely. Now, if “inappropriate contacts” are detected, scientists may be restricted from leaving Russia.
“I am sure that tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people will be on these lists — teachers, students, experts. All speakers should definitely be on the list,” a source told “We Can Explain” about the scale of information collection, calling it “spy mania.”
The project's interlocutor also believes that such lists may be needed by intelligence services to recruit new agents from the scientific community.
“This is a timeless classic of Soviet practice, when people are sent abroad for illegal undercover work while they are still students or immediately after,” he said.
In August 2019, the popular science publication “Troitsky Option” published a scan of “recommendations” from the Ministry of Education and Science on how scientists should contact foreigners.
Over the past two years, in the case of high treason (Article 275 of the Criminal Code), security forces have arrested several scientists from Siberia — Valery Zvegintsev, Anatoly Maslov, Alexander Shiplyuk and Dmitry Kolker. The latter died three days after his arrest in the Moscow Lefotovo pre-trial detention center from pancreatic cancer.
Two more scientists from Zhukovsky near Moscow — Anatoly Gubanov and Valery Golubkin — were sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2023. According to investigators, while working on the creation of a hypersonic passenger aircraft as part of the international project HEXAFLY-INT, they handed over documents containing state secrets to their colleagues from the Netherlands.