New U.S. sanctions prohibit collaborations with certain Russian entities

Dear Colleagues,

On Tuesday, August 2, the U.S. Treasury Department announced new sanctions on Russian high-technology entities. The list of sanctioned entities includes the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (PhysTech). You can see the full list of entities sanctioned by the Treasury Department here.

By law, all collaborations or other academic or publication-related activities with these sanctioned entities must end immediately, although the government will allow a wind-down of activities with Skoltech and PhysTech through Wednesday, August 31.

As you know, in light of the Russian government’s invasion of Ukraine, President Reif announced on February 26 that MIT had exercised its right to terminate the MIT Skoltech Program. In the months since, the only activities authorized with respect to the Skoltech Program were those necessary to wind it down. In May, I wrote to principal investigators to provide advice on the potential risks involved in starting or continuing informal collaborations with peers at Russian institutions. I encourage you to read my earlier message for additional guidance on informal collaborations here.

To comply with the new sanctions, if you are engaged in any informal collaborations or outside professional activities (including continuing publication or other wind-down activities from previous research projects) with individuals at an entity that appears on the Treasury Department’s new sanctions list, you must end the collaboration immediately, or by August 31 in the cases of Skoltech and PhysTech.

Recognizing that these issues can be complicated, I strongly encourage you to contact Research Compliance at research-compliance-help@mit.edu if you need guidance about a specific activity or collaboration.

Sincerely,

Maria T. Zuber
Vice President for Research