Arlington, VA, 9 August 2006. Futurepast author Oscar A. Kaibyshev was convicted this week on charges relating to the export of technology suitable for use in weapons of mass destruction and of financial irregularities related to the management of his former Institute of Metals Superplasticity Problems.

The conviction came after a trial that lasted nearly a year in his home city of Ufa, Bashkortostan, Russia. The charges against him had resulted from an investigation pursued by the Russian Federal Security Services (FSB). The judge in the case imposed a suspended sentence of six years of prison and a fine of $133,000.

Prof. Kaibyshev has steadfastly denied the accusations against him and accused officers in the local FSB of targeting him in order to profit from the Institute's contracts with foreign companies.

The accusations against Prof. Kaibyshev shocked the world of metallurgical science, and resulted in the opening of investigations into the violation of his human rights in the United States. In its 2005 human rights practices in Russia report, published on March 8, 2006, the US Department of State devoted a paragraph to Prof. Kaibyshev's case.

Since his dismissal as head of the IMSP on 18 January 2005, the institute has been managed by persons associated with FSB officials. Most of the scientists who once worked at this prestigious research facility have left the institute since the FSB opened its investigations.

Prof. Kaibyshev is a highly respected scientist of international repute. In a letter sent to Futurepast on 15 February 2005 Prof. Kaibyshev provided a brief history of his problems with the FSB and defended his management of intellectual property.

Much of the subject matter that is in contention is covered in the book Prof. Kaibyshev wrote with Farid Utyashev that is published by Futurepast. In his letter, Prof. Kaibyshev wrote that “all [of this] work was in the public sphere, and observed all laws of the USSR and then the Russian Federation.”

For peer reviews of Prof. Kaibyshev's work, Superplasticity: Microstructural Refinement and Superplastic Roll Forming, or to order the book, please visit our Futurepast Publications page.

Futurepast Press Releases

Following are press releases on this subject issued by Futurepast:

• Press release dated 16 February 2005 (in Adobe PDF format)
  Press release dated 16 February 2005 (in Microsoft Word)
  

• Press release dated 16 March 2005 (in Adobe PDF format)
  Press release dated 16 March 2005 (in Microsoft Word)
  

Published Press Reports

Following are published press reports on this subject that have come to the attention of Futurepast. Readers of this page who find artcles published elsewhere are encouraged to submit them to us for posting.

• Article by Associated Press reporter Mike Eckel, from Moscow, 18 February 2005
• Article (in Russian) summarizing Mike Eckel's AP story, 19 February 2005
• Transcription of an interview broadcast on Radio Liberty, conducted in Tatar and Russian
• Alert posted to NEAR International Website (London, UK), 22 February 2005
• Article published in Moscow News, 22 February 2005
• Article published in Nature, 24 February 2005
• Search results in Russian from the "Yandex" web site using the search term "Askar Kaibyshev" (Tatar variant spelling of "Oscar")
• Article published on the "Lenta RU" website (in Russian), 3 March 2005
• Article by Washington Post reporter Peter Finn, from Moscow, 9 August 2006

Related Links

Futurepast would like to acknowledge other organizations who work on human rights issues related to scientists. We have provided information about the plight of Prof. Kaibyshev to the Science and Human Rights Program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and to the Committee on Human Rights of the National Academies of Science. The "Alert" page of the AAAS includes a link to page that can generate a letter of appeal addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Although it is no consolation to Prof. Kaibyshev, he is not alone among Russian scientists, researchers, and journalists in having problems with Russian authorities. As background, we offer here some links to information concerning accusations, prosecutions, and other forms of intimidation that appear to be part of a distressing pattern in Russia.

Persons interested in this subject may wish to access the following sites:

• Prosecutions Actions Arbitrary and Abusive , Bellona Foundation report
• Johnson's Russia List