Doctor of Biological Sciences, Mikhail Gelfand, was dismissed from the Institute for Information Transmission Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He worked there as the head of the "Bioinformatics" educational and scientific center.  After the start of the invasion, Dr. Gelfand signed an open letter by Russian scientists condemning the military actions. On top of that, he criticized the acting director of his institution, and his deputies due to bureaucratic and personnel problems, financial opacity, and overall managerial incompetence. 

As Gelfand told RTVI, the administration informed him of their intention to fire him as early as March. According to Gelfand, Acting Deputy Director for Science Yuri Kostyukevich told him that if he did not leave voluntarily, he would be dismissed.

Alexander Panchin, Gelfand's colleague and a popular science promoter, calls him the most cited scientist at IITP RAS and one of the most cited scientists in Russia.

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