Rosfinmonitoring included 69-year-old mathematician Mikhail Volkov, father of oppositionist Leonid Volkov, in the list of 'extremists and terrorists', as reported on the agency's website.
The search and initiation of a criminal case against the scientist became known on April 3. Law enforcement in Yekaterinburg came to his home with a search, after which Mikhail Volkov was taken for a lengthy interrogation, resulting in a criminal case. Leonid Volkov reported that his father is accused of financing the 'extremist' organization FBK. He also mentioned that his father was dismissed 'in one day' from the Ural Federal University in February after 48 years of work at the university. According to a source from T-invariant, the dismissal was initiated by the security service in advance so that at the time of the criminal case initiation, it would 'not so obviously cast a shadow on the leading university of the region'.
Currently, Mikhail Volkov is under a travel ban.
On April 10, the Israeli Mathematical Union published a statement in support of Mikhail Volkov, calling for the cessation of criminal prosecution, as he has never been involved in politics, 'fully dedicating himself to mathematical research and educating thousands of Russian students'. 'Professor Volkov is an outstanding mathematician, a world leader in the field of algebra, whose pioneering achievements are highly recognized throughout the mathematical world. Among his classic results are fundamental contributions to the theory of semigroups, associative algebras, and theoretical informatics. He is known worldwide as a person with hundreds of followers, bringing great fame to Russian mathematics. He is the editor of Semigroup Forum, a leading international journal in his field', the statement says.
* Listed as a 'terrorist and extremist', recognized in Russia as a 'foreign agent'.
Photo: UrFU