Russian scientist charged with treason over academic article published in foreign journal

A Russian scientist has been arrested for treason in St. Petersburg over an article he authored which the authorities believe contained data that could have been used by Norwegian intelligence, Russian human rights NGO First Department reported on Friday.

Alexey Dudarev, a doctor of medicine at the Rospotrebnadzor North-Western Scientific Centre for Hygiene and Public Health in St. Petersburg, was detained on his way to work on 14 January, after which he had his apartment searched and was placed in pretrial detention for two months, First Department said.

Dudarev has denied the charges against him. According to his son, Dudarev has published articles in both Russian and international scientific journals, attended conferences worldwide, and specialised in the health of non-Russian ethnic minorities living in Russia’s Far North.

Family members also said that Dudarev had never had access to any classified information. According to First Department, the charges relate to an article in an international scientific journal published by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), which is based in Norway. 

AMAP forms part of the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental body whose members include Russia. The council was suspended soon after Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 when the seven other Arctic states — Canada, Denmark-Greenland, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the US — decided they could no longer work with Russia.