The Ministry of Justice is asked not to include Dmitry Zimin’s foundation in the list of foreign agents

Ten academicians and 18 corresponding members from the July 1 Club, which protested against the reform of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAN), on Tuesday, May 12, sent an appeal to the head of the Ministry of Justice, Alexander Konovalov, with a request not to include the charitable foundation of the founder of VimpelCom in the register of foreign agents. Dmitry Zimin's Dynasty, which is one of the main private sponsors of projects in the field of science and education in Russia, Interfax reports .

The text of the open letter received by the agency notes that Zimin was recently awarded the Ministry of Education and Science prize “For patronage of Russian science.” “Today, three months later, an attempt is being made to add the Dynasty Foundation to the register of so-called “foreign agents.” This idea is absurd,” the letter states.

Scientists emphasize that the activities of the fund are completely open and publicly known, and “have nothing to do with defending the interests of foreign states.” According to them, it is financed with Zimin’s private funds, “even if they are in foreign accounts.” ” “We kindly ask you to take this situation under personal control and not allow the fund to be included in the register of “foreign agents , the authors of the letter address the minister.

Among the signatories of the document are members of the July 1 Club Vladimir Zakharov, Leonid Keldysh, Alexander Kuleshov, Valery Rubakov, Sergey Stishov, Victor Vasiliev, Nikolai Kardashev, Alexander Starobinsky, Robert Souris and Alexander Chaplik.

On Friday, May 8, the Vedomosti newspaper reported that the Ministry of Justice is going to include the Dynasty Foundation in the list of foreign agents. The publication's interlocutors said that the decision to recognize Dynasty as a foreign agent was made after an audit of the fund, which showed that the fund was sponsored, among other things, by foreign sources.

Academicians of the Russian Academy of Sciences stood up for the Dynasty foundation of the founder of VimpelCom