Russia

As Russia’s war against Ukraine nears its fourth year, academic freedom in the country faces intense, systematic destruction, transforming higher education into an instrument of state control. The crackdown on anti-war dissent since 2022 has evolved into a major restructuring of academia around nationalist ideology and authoritarianism, solidifying the eroded state of academic freedom, which has been under attack for more than a decade.

The Russian government has continuously expanded its repressive legislation targeting academics. The Academic Freedom Index reported in 2025 that academic freedom in Russia was “severely restricted,” with classrooms turned into echo chambers for state ideology. This is a result of Russia having regressed in all 5 dimensions of academic freedom: freedom of research and teaching, academic exchange and dissemination, institutional autonomy, campus integrity, and academic and cultural expression. In 2025, Science at Risk, a digital platform run by a community of Ukrainian scientists impacted by the war, published a report noting that the level of academic freedom in Russia had fallen to levels observed during the Soviet era.

These restrictions are enforced through criminal and civil prosecutions that target educators. As of 2025, authorities have opened criminal cases against at least 1,185 individuals for anti-war statements, with at least 372 people remaining imprisoned on charges related to criticizing the military and condemning the war. At least 23 of these cases are against faculty members in Russian universities. Physicist Dmitry Kolker, arrested on treason charges in 2022, died in custody days following his arrest, after he was removed by security forces from a cancer clinic where he was receiving treatment for late-stage pancreatic cancer. Russian sociologist and activist Boris Kagarlitsky was sentenced to 5 years in prison, in February 2024, for criticizing the war in Ukraine. Alexander Nesterenko, a former lecturer at Bauman State Technical University, was sentenced to three years in December 2025 for “inciting extremism” by posting Ukrainian songs online. Additionally, at least 106 university faculty as well as school teachers have faced civil cases. For example, Marina Dubrova, an English teacher, was recorded by a student calling the war “a mistake” and reported by a parent. She was summoned to court and fined US$370 for discrediting the armed forces.

Students have faced backlash for anti-war views, as well. Since 2015, 86 students have been expelled from Russian universities for political reasons, with nearly 80% of these expulsions occurring after the war on Ukraine began. In 2022, it was reported that Saint Petersburg State University was ordered by the Ministry of Internal Affairs to expel 13 students detained at anti-war rallies. Kunta-Haji Islamic University expelled 17 students in October 2022 for refusing to partake in a rally supporting Russia’s annexation of four regions in Ukraine. As of 2024, 41 college students and 7 high schoolers have been charged under anti-war criminal cases. Most recently, in February-March 2025, two students from Saint Petersburg State University of Telecommunications were sentenced to 5 days in jail for shouting pro-Ukrainian slogans on campus and a student from Moscow State University was sentenced to 10 days in jail for renaming his Wi-Fi network with a pro-Ukrainian slogan. Other notable cases include the imprisonment of students Daria Kozyreva, Olesya Krivtsova, and the 15 year old Arseny Turbin.

The assault on education in Russia has severely impacted students’ educational experience, through the militarization of universities and schools. In 2022, schools were ordered to hold patriotic education classes to defend the war using state-sanctioned language and in 2023, military education and training components were also introduced into school curricula. Similarly, universities implemented a course titled “The Foundations of Russian Statehood,” mandatory for all first-year students, with ideological content that prohibits critical inquiry and alternative interpretations. The Ministry of Education announced in 2022 that sociology, political science, and cultural studies would no longer be taught at pedagogical institutes. Russian university campuses have become “closed institutions,” with staff and students being monitored by retired or active officers of the Federal Security Service, a successor to the Soviet Union’s KGB security agency. Measures of control include video surveillance, illegal searches of student dormitories, and checkpoints at university entrances.

State surveillance has extended beyond universities through censorship laws criminalizing freedom of thought and anti-war dissent. The vaguely defined “fake information” law introduced in 2022 imposes sentences of up to 15 years in prison for publicly criticizing the Russian armed forces or calling for sanctions against the war. By 2024, the law was expanded to include “undesirable organizations,” with more than 140 organizations banned, including Amnesty International, the Institute of International Education (housing the Fulbright program), Freedom House, and the Central European University. Contact with these organizations is now criminalized, effectively severing Russian academics’ collaboration with major international partners. In 2023, the European University in Saint Petersburg was fined for keeping books published by two “undesirable” organizations, the Open Society Institute and the Kennan Institute. The “foreign agent” law, first introduced in 2012 to target non-profit organizations receiving foreign funding, has also been progressively expanded and weaponized against scholars. In 2022, it was broadened to include anyone deemed under “foreign influence” or “politically active,” and in 2025, President Vladimir Putin signed further expansions targeting Russians connected with international organizations and barring “foreign agents” from all educational activities. To date, 48 researchers and 12 research institutions have been placed on the list, losing their formal right to teach.

The isolation of Russian academia from the global community is one amongst the many devastating consequences of the war against Ukraine. International collaborations with Russian scientists have decreased by 34% since 2021 and the number of publications by Russian scientists in international journals has decreased by nearly 20%. At least 2,500 scientists have left Russia since the start of the war, with Moscow universities and research centers accounting for 23% of departures.

Endangered Scholars Worldwide condemns Russia’s unprovoked war in Ukraine and stands in solidarity with those who strive for freedom, justice, and safety in Russia. We denounce the Russian government’s actions that target critical voices within Russian academia and subject anti-war dissent to undue punishment. We call upon the international community to join us in urging the Russian government to end this illegitimate and immoral war and to stop weaponizing the war to undermine academic freedom in the country.

(Last updated January 4, 2026)

Please send appeals to the following:

Vladimir Putin

President of Russia

Presidential Executive Office

8 Staraya Square, Moscow

+7 495 625 35 81

Fax: +7 (495) 910-21-34

Valery Falkov

Minister of Science and Higher Education

11 Tverskaya Ulitsa, Moscow

+7 (495) 547-12-19