We note with regret and concern that the GHI Moscow is now considered an "undesirable organisation" in Russia. This decision represents a serious blow to freedom of expression and academic freedom. It was foreseeable in the course of political developments in Russia.
Since its foundation in 2005, the GHI Moscow has been a place of open international academic exchange and research. It has supported several hundred young academics in Russia with its scholarships. With the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against the whole of Ukraine, the institute discontinued its scholarship programmes, its cooperations with Russian state institutions and its event activities; only central services such as the library were continued. This was in the hope of preserving the last channels between Russian and German academics on site. At the same time, the MWS established a decentralised network in Eastern Europe, where expertise on Eastern Europe and Russia is to be maintained in Tbilisi/Georgia, Vilnius/Lithuania and, from autumn, in Helsinki/Finland. The Max Weber Network Eastern Europe thus creates opportunities for academics to continue researching Russian and Soviet history freely and independently.