In St. Petersburg, medical scientist Alexey Dudarev has been arrested on charges of high treason. He is the chief research fellow at the North-West Scientific Center for Hygiene and Public Health of Rospotrebnadzor and holds a Doctor of Medical Sciences degree. A court ordered his detention until March 13, 2026.
Dudarev was detained on January 14 while on his way to work. Law enforcement officers searched his apartment and then transferred him to a pre-trial detention center. He is charged under Article 275 of the Russian Criminal Code (“High Treason”).
According to Dudarev’s son, who spoke to Pervy Otdel, the scientist has spent many years exclusively engaged in academic work, publishing articles in Russian and international journals, participating in conferences, and conducting research on the health of Indigenous peoples of the North. His family says that Dudarev never had access to state secrets and did not sign any non-disclosure agreements.
Pervy Otdel reports that the investigation focuses on Dudarev’s publications in open-access international scientific journals published under the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP). AMAP operates within the framework of the Arctic Council, a high-level intergovernmental forum of which Russia is also a member. According to investigators, information contained in these scientific publications could allegedly have been used by Norwegian intelligence.
Alexey Dudarev denies all charges.