Russia bans US Stanford University, labels it ‘undesirable organisation’

Russia on Friday added Stanford to its “undesirable organisations” blacklist, essentially outlawing any study in the prestigious US university for Russians.

Being declared “undesirable” effectively bans entities from operating in Russia and makes anyone who cooperates with them liable to prosecution.

The list also includes more than 300 rights groups, nonprofits, academic institutions and independent media outlets.

Among its most prominent entries are the US universities Yale and Berkeley, as well as the rights group Human Rights Watch and the anti-corruption NGO Transparency International.

Under a controversial law passed in 2015 — but rarely used before the war on Ukraine — Russia can ban overseas organisations deemed a threat to national security.

Since sending troops to Ukraine in 2022, the Kremlin has not only suppressed opposition to the war but has also carried out a wider crackdown on dissent on a scale unseen since Soviet times.

Stanford University has produced 36 Nobel Prize winners since it was founded in 1885.

AFP

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