Employees of universities and research institutes across several Russian regions are being called in for talks with the Federal Security Service (FSB) and are having their contracts refused for renewal, the outlet T-invariant reported. The pressure has resumed four years after the letter was published.

One scientist in the Urals told the outlet that an FSB officer seconded to his university asked him about his attitude toward the war in 2022 and now. A list of seven surnames of employees from various universities in the city lay on the security officer's desk. The source noted that no problems had arisen in the four years since he signed the letter, and that the FSB officer showed him a printout of an archived copy of the letter's website from the Wayback Machine.

A female employee of a Siberian research institute was summoned for questioning at Moscow's request. According to T-invariant, she was asked where she got the link to the letter and to whom she forwarded it.

The practice is particularly widespread at St. Petersburg State University. Oleg Shaidulin, a former head of the political department of the St. Petersburg center for combating extremism, known as Center E, works there as deputy vice-rector for security. Several former SPbGU employees said their supervisors explained the refusal to renew their contracts by their inclusion on a blacklist.

A former employee of one of SPbGU's IT faculties described the system as a "traffic light": employees are divided into yellow and red lists. She herself was placed on an internal list of "unreliable" people because of her registration on the Smart Voting website, as well as her signature on the anti-war letter and her support for human rights projects.

According to one of the scientists, a person can get off the list by removing their signature, donating money to the Defenders of the Fatherland foundation, or becoming a lecturer for the Znanie society. He refused and was left without a job.

A T-invariant source described similar refusals to renew contracts at the St. Petersburg campuses of HSE and the European University. Blacklists also exist at pedagogical universities in Moscow and St. Petersburg: one employee's contract was not renewed because he "did not pass a check by the security department."

Lecturer Tatyana Kudryavtseva left Herzen State Pedagogical University in September after 30 years of work. According to her, before her dismissal, the management threatened her with disciplinary, administrative and criminal liability over old Instagram posts.

The open letter against the invasion of Ukraine was signed by more than 8,500 Russian-speaking scientists from around the world. In the winter of 2024, T-invariant already reported mass summonses of signatories for talks and threats of criminal cases.