The main event of this issue of the “Chronicles of the Persecution of Scientists”: the FSB has initiated a criminal case against 23 members of the Anti-War Committee of Russia (AWCR) for violent seizure of power (Article 278 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and organization of a terrorist community or participation therein (Parts 1 and 2 of Article 205.4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
According to the FSB, the AWCR serves as a platform uniting politicians, scientists, publicists, and businesspeople who have emigrated from Russia and oppose the military operation in Ukraine. The committee also aims “to counter the regime of the President of the Russian Federation as a direct threat to humanity,” reports Kommersant. The FSB claims that the committee planned a “violent change of the constitutional order of the Russian Federation” and sought to unite “diverse protest forces of the protest community.”
Seven AWCR participants are listed in our database:
Sergey Guriev — economist,
Evgeny Kunin — biologist,
Elena Lukyanova — political scientist,
Kirill Martynov — philosopher,
Yuri Pivovarov — historian,
Konstantin Chumakov — biologist,
Ekaterina Shulman — political scientist.
All of them are outstanding scholars who have spoken out against Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
For Evgeny Kunin, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and a member of the T-invariant Coordination Council, news of the criminal case came as a complete surprise. He told T-invariant in an interview: “…it was clear that the security services would take an interest in the Anti-War Committee of Russia. I wasn’t a particularly active member of the committee, but now, of course, I’m very glad to be part of it.”
The Kirovsky District Court of Yekaterinburg sentenced Mikhail Volkov to a fine of 300,000 rubles [~$4000] under Part 1 of Article 282.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Financing of extremist activities,” punishable by up to 8 years in prison). The prosecution had requested a fine of 600,000 rubles, Mediazonareports. In his final statement, Mikhail Volkov said: “I managed to achieve a great deal in science; my accomplishments are well known in the mathematical community. Like the most successful of my colleagues, I received tempting offers to move abroad. Unlike those colleagues, I believed that my place was where I could benefit not only world science but also domestic education. Please, also take into account that I have already been very seriously punished. I had to leave the university and abandon the work to which I had devoted my entire life. My 70th birthday was marked not by an award from the rector or a scientific conference in my honor, but by the presentation of an indictment in an FSB investigator’s office.”
Despite the relatively lenient sentence — rare in these times — one can only feel sympathy with this remarkable mathematician.
New Cards
Rustam Kaibyshev
October 30, 2025 The Belgorod Regional Court rejected the appeal filed by the defense of the director of the Research Institute of Materials Science and Innovative Technologies at Belgorod State National Research University, Rustam Kaibyshev. As Kommersant reports, citing the court, the sentence of two and a half years in a general-regime penal colony remains unchanged. The appellate court only clarified that the payment of the 500,000-ruble [~$6500] fine must be paid without compulsory deduction.
Leonid Pshenichnov
October 20, 2025 Ukraine’s Ambassador to Australia and New Zealand, Vasyl Miroshnychenko, speaking at the annual international meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), reported Russia’s unlawful detention of Dr. Leonid Pshenichnov, a leading Ukrainian scientist specializing in Antarctic research. He is Ukraine’s CCAMLR representative. The National Antarctic Scientific Center reports that Pshenichnov has been charged with state treason and inflicting economic damage on Russia.
Sergey Guriev
October 14, 2025. The FSB initiated a criminal case against 23 members of the AWCR for violent seizure of power (Article 278 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and organization of a terrorist community or participation therein (Parts 1 and 2 of Article 205.4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). A criminal case was initiated against Sergey Guriev as a member of the AWCR.
Konstantin Chumakov
October 14, 2025. The FSB initiated a criminal case against 23 members of the AWCR for violent seizure of power (Article 278 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and organization of a terrorist community or participation therein (Parts 1 and 2 of Article 205.4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). A criminal case was initiated against Konstantin Chumakov as a member of the AWCR.
Evgeny Kunin
October 14, 2025. The FSB initiated a criminal case against 23 members of the AWCR for violent seizure of power (Article 278 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and organization of a terrorist community or participation therein (Parts 1 and 2 of Article 205.4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). A criminal case was initiated against Evgeny Kunin as a member of the AWCR.
Updates
Tamara Eidelman
October 31, 2025. A court in Moscow ordered the in absentia arrest of Tamara Eidelman on charges of rehabilitating Nazism (Article 354.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and disseminating “fakes” about the Russian army (point “d” of Part 2 of Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), according to the city prosecutor’s office as reported by Meduza.
Elena Lukyanova
October 14, 2025. The FSB initiated a criminal case against 23 members of the AWCR for violent seizure of power (Article 278 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and organization of a terrorist community or participation therein (Parts 1 and 2 of Article 205.4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). A criminal case was initiated against Elena Lukyanova as a member of the AWCR.
Ekaterina Shulman
October 14, 2025. The FSB initiated a criminal case against 23 members of the AWCR for violent seizure of power (Article 278 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and organization of a terrorist community or participation therein (Parts 1 and 2 of Article 205.4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). A criminal case was initiated against Ekaterina Shulman as a member of the AWCR.
Yuri Pivovarov
October 14, 2025. The FSB initiated a criminal case against 23 members of the AWCR for violent seizure of power (Article 278 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and organization of a terrorist community or participation therein (Parts 1 and 2 of Article 205.4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). A criminal case was initiated against Yuri Pivovarov as a member of the AWCR.
Kirill Martynov
October 14, 2025. The FSB initiated a criminal case against 23 members of the AWCR for violent seizure of power (Article 278 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and organization of a terrorist community or participation therein (Parts 1 and 2 of Article 205.4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). A criminal case was initiated against Kirill Martynov as a member of the AWCR.
Mikhail Volkov
October 2, 2025. The Kirovsky District Court of Yekaterinburg sentenced Mikhail Volkov to a fine of 300,000 rubles under Part 1 of Article 282.3 of the Russian Criminal Code (“Financing extremist activities”). The prosecution had requested a fine of 600,000 rubles, Mediazona reports.
Full database. New cards are highlighted in red. Updates are highlighted in purple.