Russia’s Investigative Committee raided the homes of employees of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Philosophy on May 21, with the searches reported by the Telegram channel “Notes of a Traditionalist” («Zаписки традиционалиста», notably spelt with a pro-war “Z”) and by the channel of “Russian world” ideologue Alexander Dugin, though Dugin’s post was later deleted. Two sources confirmed the searches to the independent science-focused publication T-invariant.
According to T-invariant, at least 10 academics were taken in for questioning, including the acting director of the Institute of Philosophy, 87-year-old Russian Academy of Sciences academic Abdusalam Guseynov. Preliminary reports suggested most were released after questioning under travel restrictions.
The academic Svetlana Mesyats is believed to remain in custody. The independent outlet Mediazona reported that she was placed under house arrest, and a Moscow City Court case card showed a hearing on pretrial restrictions.
According to the case card, Mesyats is suspected of fraud committed by an organized group or on an especially large scale. “Notes of a Traditionalist” claimed that the institute's employees are accused of “stealing budget money under a state assignment for translations of Aristotle that ultimately never appeared.”
