Members and professors of the Russian Academy of Sciences appealed to Putin with a request to soften the preventive measure against rector Shaninka Zuev

Members and professors of the Russian Academy of Sciences addressed in an open letter to President Vladimir Putin with a request to soften the preventive measure against rector Sergei Zuev. The letter was published by Novaya Gazeta.

The letter was signed by 59 academicians. They called the fact of Zuev’s accusation “absurd,” and the actions of the investigative authorities, the court and the prosecutor’s office “cruelty.” Members of the RAS also noted the rector’s contribution to the development of Russian education.

“It is impossible to imagine that Sergei Eduardovich Zuev was involved in any fraud or theft. His many years of work, enormous contribution to the development of Russian education (noted, among other things, by state awards), impeccable academic and public reputation completely exclude such a possibility,” the appeal says.

The letter also says that over the past year Zuev has undergone three operations, so he “needs close medical supervision and constant adjustment of medication treatment.” In addition, the academicians noted, the rector has two children and elderly parents.

“For S.E. For Zuev, every day of his stay in the pre-trial detention center poses a direct threat to his life and health. Until the final decision of the court on his case, a preventive measure not related to detention should be chosen for him,” added the RAS staff.

The authors of the appeal noted in the finale: “Once upon a time, the Russian authorities called for “to stop creating a nightmare for business”; Today we fear that what is happening with Zuev and Shaninka might become one of the links in a new “nightmare” for Russian science and higher education.”