Moscow blacklists Yale University over 'anti-Russian' activities

Russia has blacklisted Yale University, accusing the Ivy League school of carrying out anti-Russian activities and training foreign opposition leaders.

Being added to Russia’s blacklist would mean that Yale cannot conduct any operation in the country and individuals connected to the institution are subject six years of prison time for carrying out activities on behalf of the “undesirable organisation”.

The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, in a statement, said, “The university’s activities are directed at the violation of the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation, the international blockade of the country and the undermining of its economic foundations, as well as destabilizing the socio-economic and political situation in the country.”

The Vladimir Putin-led government has singled out the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs, which houses the university’s International Leadership Centre, responsible for training “opposition leaders of foreign countries.”

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The statement claimed that Russian graduates of the program later joined the Anti-Corruption Foundation, the nonprofit founded by opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in a Russian prison last year, alleging they “used the knowledge and technologies they acquired at the school to escalate protest activity in the Russian Federation.”

Navalny’s organisation was recognised by Yale’s Jackson School in 2010, which offers a scholarship to a fellowship program.

Moscow has barred dozens of American academics, including Yale professors Larry Samuelson and Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, from entering Russia, accusing them of engaging in anti-Russian activities since the country launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

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Scholars from the prestigious university, including Sonnenfeld, have endorsed the idea of freezing Russian assets and directing them to Ukraine. Sonnenfeld was added to Russia’s no-entry list in June 2022.

“I think it is a proud patriotic moment where we’re waving the flag to show that the national interests and the interests of institutions like this are inextricably intertwined,” Sonnenfeld said Tuesday in an interview.