Russian foundation tarred with ‘foreign’ label

Last week, Russia's justice ministry branded Russia's only private research funder, the Dynasty Foundation, a "foreign agent." The move threatens to strangle the foundation in red tape and ostracize future grantees. The designation infuriated Dynasty's founder, telecom tycoon Dmitry Zimin, who has vowed to stop financing the foundation, which spent $10 million last year on 20 projects supporting young researchers (mainly mathematicians and physicists), competitions for science teachers, science festivals, and public lectures by world-class researchers. Dynasty's imminent demise is sending shock waves through the scientific community. Prominent researchers have vowed to stage a rally in Moscow on 6 June to protest the government's "disrespect to science and education" and "consistent elimination of the seedlings of civil society."