Putin's daughters and other sanctioned Russian scientists continue to publish in Western journals

Sanctioned Russian scientists continue collaboration with Western publishers

Maria Vorontsova and Katerina Tikhonova, daughters of Russian President Vladimir Putin, have not ceased their scientific activities in the international arena. Despite active sanctions from the United States, the European Union, and Switzerland, their works appear in publications by American, German, British, and Swiss companies. International bibliographic databases, including Scopus, continue to index these publications.

These data are contained in the study "The Disgraceful Eight," prepared by Doctor of Economic Sciences Oleksiy Plastun and probability theory researcher Valeriya Kotelnykova. They work as part of the Analytical Center for "Research on Fakes and Propaganda in Russian Science" at Sumy State University. The study materials were published by the ZN.UA portal.

The researchers analysed the activities of eight sanctioned Russian scientists and established that they continue to publish articles in international journals after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Who from the Russian leader's entourage continues to publish in the West

Among the analysed individuals are both daughters of Vladimir Putin.

Maria Vorontsova, a specialist in genetics and endocrinology, focuses on longevity research. Her works are published by Springer Nature (publisher of the journal Nature) and the Swiss publisher MDPI.

Katerina Tikhonova heads the Artificial Intelligence Centre at Moscow State University and the "Innopractica" foundation. According to the researchers, the foundation receives significant funds from the Russian state budget for dual-use developments, including algorithms for unmanned aerial vehicles and radio electronic warfare technologies. Western countries imposed sanctions on Tikhonova specifically due to the connection between her structures and the Russian military-industrial complex. Meanwhile, her articles appear in the American publisher Allerton Press.

The list of eight scientists also includes:

• Mikhail Kovalchuk — brother of Yuri Kovalchuk, who is called Putin's personal banker, and head of the National Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute". His works are published by IOP Publishing and the International Union of Crystallography. He is also the editor-in-chief of the journals Crystallography Reports and Nanobiotechnology Reports, which are distributed by Springer Nature.
• Vladimir Litvinenko — former scientific supervisor of Putin's candidate's dissertation and head of his election headquarters in Saint Petersburg. Despite US sanctions, his work was published in the international journal Antarctic Science.
• Vladimir Bespalov — head of the Russian Science Foundation. After the introduction of US sanctions, his articles were published in Pleiades Publishing and MDPI publications.
• Nikolai Rogalev — rector of the Moscow Power Engineering Institute, which carries out scientific developments on order of Russian military departments and state corporations. He publishes works in Elsevier publications.
• Andriy Polyakov — director of the Institute of History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Despite EU sanctions, Springer Nature published his article in the journal Nature Communications.
• Kyrylo Sypalo — general director of the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute named after Professor M. Zhukovsky. Under his leadership, state programmes for the militarisation of science and the support of the Russian air and space forces are being implemented. His articles are published in Elsevier and American Physical Society publications.

Publication statistics and Ukraine's reaction

According to the authors' calculations, all eight sanctioned Russian scientists published 76 articles in international scientific journals after the start of the full-scale invasion.

Among the publishers that printed these works are Pleiades Publishing, MDPI, Elsevier, Taylor & Francis, American Physical Society, IEEE, Frontiers, IOP Publishing, International Union of Crystallography, and Cambridge University Press. The largest share of publications (59%) belongs to the Pleiades group, and another 17% to MDPI.

The researchers claim that such practice indicates problems with the effective application of sanction restrictions in the international academic sphere.

The authors prepared an analytical note, translated it into English, and jointly with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine sent official requests to the respective publishers. Currently, they are studying the responses received and transmitting information to the governments of partner countries through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. In addition, official complaints are being prepared for the sanction authorities of the European Commission, the US (OFAC), the UK (OFSI), and Switzerland (SECO).