At least seven Russian scientists lost their freedom in 2025 — either arrested during investigations or taken into custody after sentencing. According to T-Invariant, at least 31 scientists are currently in detention in Russia on criminal charges. In 2025, the grounds for arrests included accusations of “spreading fakes about the army,” treason, “confidential cooperation” with a foreign state, as well as economic crimes.
In April 2025, Grigory Severin - a PhD in physics and mathematics previously fired from Voronezh State University for protest activity - was once again deprived of liberty. He was detained on April 22 and accused of “discrediting” Russia’s armed forces, allegedly based on conversations with other inmates during a previous term. Severin has faced criminal prosecution repeatedly since 2021 and served time in a penal colony-settlement; the new case is another episode in a long chain of reprisals.
In July 2025, Moscow’s Lefortovo Court arrested Vadim Saltykovsky — a PhD in geography, a professor at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics and a former employee of the presidential property management department. He is accused of treason. The substance of the charges has not been disclosed. The maximum penalty under that article is life imprisonment. After his arrest, references to Saltykovsky were removed from the websites of universities where he had worked.
By August 2025, Nikolai Zyuzev - a doctor of philosophy, sociologist and researcher of Pitirim Sorokin’s legacy - was also in custody. He was detained in Syktyvkar and placed in a pretrial detention center on charges of “confidential cooperation with a foreign state.” Zyuzev holds Canadian citizenship and previously taught at Syktyvkar State University; after the war began, he left Russia but returned to the region.
On August 30, 2025, St. Petersburg’s Kuibyshevsky District Court ordered the detention of Kirill Yakovlev - a sociologist and HSE University doctoral student, also known by the pen name Glikeriy Ulunov. He is charged with “organizing activities aimed at inciting suicide.” The case stems from a post on the website of the cultural project Flags, which investigators claim “contains a set of linguistic and psychological indicators of incitement to suicide and self-harm.” The charge carries 5 to 15 years in prison.
In October 2025, Moscow authorities arrested Pavel Syutkin - a PhD in history, independent researcher and author on the history of Russian cuisine. The Investigative Committee opened a case against him over alleged “fakes” about the army. On October 9, a court sent Syutkin to a pretrial detention center. On October 17, Russia’s financial monitoring agency added him to its list of “extremists and terrorists.” Investigators say the case is based on his public statements about the use of Russia’s armed forces.
Also in October, reports emerged that Leonid Pshenichnov - a doctor of sciences, a leading Ukrainian Antarctic researcher and Ukraine’s representative to the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) - had been detained in Kerch. Ukraine’s National Antarctic Scientific Center and Ukrainian diplomats reported his loss of freedom; Russian authorities have not publicly commented. According to the Ukrainian side, Pshenichnov is accused of treason and causing economic damage to Russia. Kyiv believes the case is tied to his work on a marine protected area proposal off the Antarctic Peninsula, which Russia viewed as a threat to its industrial fishing interests.
On October 30, 2025, Rustam Kaybyshev - a PhD in physics and mathematics, professor and director of the Institute of Materials Science and Innovative Technologies at Belgorod National Research University - was taken into custody. A regional court upheld his sentence of 2.5 years in a general-regime colony on charges of large-scale fraud. He was found guilty of providing false information to the Education and Science Ministry during government-funded research, with damages set at 14 million rubles. Kaybyshev denied guilt and was remanded in the courtroom. T-Invariant notes that his case resembles the prosecution of Russian Academy of Sciences corresponding member Oleg Kabov and rests on expert opinions whose scientific validity has been criticized by the academic community.
T-Invariant also highlights the arrest of Leonid Kats - not formally a scientist, but, the project stresses, an exceptionally talented young researcher on the cusp of an academic career. On December 2, 2025, Moscow’s Meshchansky District Court ordered the 22-year-old HSE University graduate into pretrial detention on treason charges. Before that, Kats spent more than two months cycling through back-to-back administrative arrests — detained upon release from a detention center and re-arrested for alleged “disobedience to police” and “profanity.” A graduate of Moscow’s Intellektual school, he was admitted to several master’s programs in Russia and France after defending his undergraduate thesis — including at MIPT, Skoltech, École Normale and Paris-Saclay University.
At the same time, according to T-Invariant, at least three people from the academic sphere were released in 2025:
- Alexey Soldatov - PhD in physics and mathematics, one of the Runet’s founders; in August 2025 his prison term was replaced with a 500,000-ruble fine in a power abuse case.
- Timofey Mokhnenko - a staffer at the N. N. Blokhin National Medical Research Center of Oncology; released in November 2025 after serving a year and a half.
- Vladimir Mironov - a postgraduate at the Alferov University in St. Petersburg; freed on July 2, 2025, after completing his sentence for “hooliganism” and “discrediting” the army.
Overall, T-Invariant says at least 31 scientists and researchers are currently in custody. Most face treason cases (some are charged under multiple articles). There are 16 such cases; below is a list of defendants.
Engineer-researchers:
- Andrey Veryanov — 24 years in prison,
- Valery Kachin — 14 years in prison.
Scientists who have been sentenced (10 people):
- Artem Khoroshilov — 21 years,
- Alexey Vorobyov — 20 years,
- Ruslan Shadiev — 18 years,
- Alexander Shiplyuk — 15 years,
- Anatoly Maslov — 14 years,
- Dmitry Kizhmenev — 13 years,
- Valery Golubkin — 12 years,
- Anatoly Gubanov — 12 years,
- Alexander Lukanin — 7.5 years,
- Alexander Kuranov — 7 years.
Scientists in pretrial detention on treason charges:
- Valery Zvegintsev,
- Vladislav Galkin,
- Vadim Saltykovsky.
Presumed treason charges, with no official confirmation from Russian authorities:
- Leonid Pshenichnov.
This list covers only treason and related accusations and does not include scientists prosecuted for “fakes,” “discrediting the army,” “confidential cooperation,” or economic offenses - who are counted in the overall total of 31 scientists and researchers in custody.
