Russian authorities demand research institutes hand over latest developments in anti-ageing science

Numerous Russian research institutes received a letter from the Health Ministry in early June demanding they hand over details of the latest developments in the fight against ageing, a joint investigation by independent news outlets Meduza and Systema has revealed.

Doctors were asked to provide “development proposals” related to reducing the burden of cell ageing, new technologies preventing cognitive and sensory impairment, methods for correcting the immune system, as well as new medical technology based on bioprinting.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes when we got this request,” an unnamed employee from the National Health and Research Centre of Preventive Healthcare in Moscow told the outlets. “The message itself puzzled me — like we have nothing better to do than keep these old fogeys alive,” he said, assuming that the request concerned prolonging the lives of older Russian politicians.

The sources Meduza and Systema spoke to said they had not yet sent anything to the ministry. The Russian Health Ministry declined to comment on the investigation.

It is unclear whether the request is tied to Russia’s recent health initiatives, including one announced by Vladimir Putin in early 2024, aimed at using “new technologies” to preserve people’s health. One of Putin’s closest allies, Mikhail Kovalchuk, the head of the Kurchatov Institute, Russia’s leading nuclear institute, has been actively lobbying for the initiative.

Kovalchuk is known for defending a number of outlandish theories in the sphere of genetics, developing a so-called “Russian genome”, suggesting the possibility of creating “a weapon that is targeting a particular ethnicity”, and accusing foreign powers of trying to create a new type of “servant human”.