Pentagon blacklists 130 Russian, Chinese and Iranian research bodies

The Pentagon has designated 130 academic and research institutions from Russia, China and Iran as entities that pose a threat to United States national security, effectively barring the Department of Defense from future collaboration, funding or use of their research and development outputs. In a statement justifying the move, the department argued that the targeted organisations are engaged in activities that increase the risk of misappropriation of US government research funds, with such diversion allegedly enabling hostile state structures to interfere in American affairs. The updated list, which the Pentagon has maintained since 2023, now includes more than 30 Russian universities and research institutes, among them Moscow State University, Bauman Moscow State Technical University, the Kuznetsov Naval Academy, the Kurchatov Institute National Research Centre, the Moscow Aviation Institute, the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, the HSE University, and the Ural Federal University named after Yeltsin.

It has since come to light, however, that several of these institutions – including Moscow State University, HSE University and Bauman University – were already placed on the Pentagon's restricted roster in 2025, according to readers of the Meduza publication and the independent outlet Agentstvo. The department's watchlist, which has been updated annually, this year saw the addition of the Kurchatov Institute, the Russian Technological University (RTU MIREA), the Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Kazan National Research Technical University, the Naval Academy, Nizhny Novgorod State University and Tomsk Polytechnic University. While the precise criteria for inclusion remain opaque, the Pentagon has made clear that its list is intended to identify foreign entities whose activities are deemed incompatible with the safeguarding of US intellectual property and national security interests.

The practical consequences of the designation are far-reaching: the Department of Defense is now prohibited from engaging in research collaboration with the listed organisations or their personnel, from utilising their technological developments, and from awarding them grants from public funds. This represents a significant severance of scientific ties that, in some cases, had persisted despite the broader deterioration of US-Russia relations following the invasion of Ukraine. The prohibition applies not only to direct co-operation but also to any indirect use of research outputs originating from the blacklisted institutions, a provision that may have implications for American universities and private-sector contractors that have historically partnered with Russian and Chinese researchers.

The inclusion of Iran and China alongside Russia in the 130-entity list underscores the Pentagon's view that these three countries collectively represent the most significant state-based threats to US research integrity and technological security. While the Pentagon has not specified individual allegations against particular institutions, its statement cited a general pattern of activity that "increases the likelihood" of misuse of US government-funded R&D, a formulation that suggests an assessment of systemic risk rather than evidence of specific misconduct in every case. The decision is likely to be met with protests from the affected institutions, which have historically valued international scientific collaboration, though Russian officials have yet to issue an official response.

For the Russian academic community, the expanded blacklist represents the latest in a series of blows to international research networks that have been steadily eroded since 2022. The prohibition on US grants will affect not only the named institutions but also individual researchers who might have been eligible for competitive funding from American sources, further isolating Russian science from global partnerships. Meanwhile, the Pentagon's move has been welcomed by some US lawmakers who have long advocated for stricter controls on foreign involvement in sensitive research areas, though concerns have been raised about the potential for the list to be applied arbitrarily or to encompass institutions with negligible connections to military technologies.

Having reviewed the updated roster, legal experts have noted that the restrictions do not carry criminal penalties but rather operate as a procurement and funding exclusion, barring the Department of Defense from entering into contracts or agreements with the listed entities. The measure is understood to be executive in nature, resting on the Secretary of Defense's authority to protect the integrity of federal research spending, and as such does not require congressional approval. Whether the list will be challenged in US courts by affected foreign institutions remains an open question, though the absence of a formal appeals process suggests that the Pentagon's designations are largely discretionary. For the moment, the 130 organisations – and their thousands of researchers – find themselves effectively cut off from one of the world's largest public research funders, a development that signals the deepening fragmentation of global scientific co-operation along geopolitical fault lines.