“When you work for the government, sooner or later it can hit you on the head.” The Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences has serious problems because of a project about Aristotle. Employees fear that this will further aggravate the crisis in which Russian philosophers find themselves

At the end of April, security forces came to search the premises of scientists at the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAN). The reason was a criminal case of fraud related to the government order for the complete works of Aristotle. Senior researcher, deputy head of the ancient philosophy sector and project curator Svetlana Mesyats was sent under house arrest. This is not the first clash with the state for the Institute: several years ago, employees opposed the appointment of a new director, who was promoted to the Ministry of Education and Science. The Institute managed to defend its position. The cooperative of independent journalists "Bereg" tells what the participants in the project to translate Aristotle are accused of, why many philosophers consider this government order unaffordable - and what the community of philosophers thinks about the persecution of Svetlana Mesyats. Meduza publishes this text in its entirety.