Vector Scientist Accused of Bribery: 'Not a Crook'
The Novosibirsk District Court on Wednesday placed under house arrest Vladimir Ternovoy, head of a laboratory at the Vector scientific center. The scientist was accused of receiving bribes totaling nearly 5 million rubles and a count of fraud using his official position. But the exact circumstances of his activities that investigators of the Investigative Committee (SK) considered criminal remain unknown. NGS has gathered what is known so far about the arrest of Vladimir Ternovoy and learned what his colleagues think about the suspicions against him.
Episode 1. Bribes
On February 4, 2026, the Novosibirsk District Court placed under house arrest Vladimir Ternovoy, head of a laboratory at the Vector center. The researcher is suspected of illegal cooperation with a commercial organization for which he received about 4.7 million rubles. However, not in a lump sum, but over five years, from August 2020 to September 2025 (that is, the illegal remuneration was approximately 78,300 rubles per month (approx. $870 at current rates)).
«The head of the laboratory received funds in an especially large amount from an official of a commercial organization. The money was intended for conducting research in violation of the established procedure in the interests of the commercial organization at a reduced cost,» the SK said in a preliminary statement on the criminal case, without specifying exactly what research was involved and how much the price was reduced.
Despite the serious charges, the investigators did not plan to arrest the scientist and petitioned specifically for house arrest. The court granted the SK«s request.
The name of the company that paid Ternovoy for the research was not disclosed in official press releases. However, among the restrictions that the accused must observe during house arrest was a ban on communicating with colleagues from the Vector scientific center and employees of the company Biolink.
According to the Rusprofile service, the company Biolink was registered in Novosibirsk in 2001, and its main activity is scientific research and development in the natural sciences. The company«s director is Alexander Kornienko. As of the end of 2024 (more recent financial statements have not yet been published), Biolink earned 105 million rubles (approx. $1,166,700 at current rates), and its net loss was 2.2 million rubles.
According to its official website, Biolink is a genetic diagnostics laboratory created with the active participation of employees of the Vector scientific center. It specializes in using molecular genetic diagnostics to identify infectious and oncological diseases. Based on publications on the site, the laboratory can also conduct paternity tests.
Speaking of the active participation of Vector employees in the creation of the company, Biolink representatives are not being disingenuous: four of the organization«s founders are former or current employees of the scientific center.
75% of the company belongs to Doctor of Biological Sciences Sergey Kovalenko (who also works as the company«s deputy director for science). 10% belongs to Candidate of Biological Sciences Vladimir Shamanin, 7.5% to Petr Laktionov, who also holds a Candidate of Biological Sciences degree and, according to the official website of Novosibirsk State University, is a senior lecturer at the Department of Cytology and Genetics of the Faculty of Natural Sciences.
Another 7.5% stake belongs to the well-known virologist, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Andrei Pokrovsky (or his full namesake). The name of another former founder of Biolink, Natalia Gashnikova, can be found on the list of the Vector academic council, where this woman (or her namesake) is listed as a Candidate of Biological Sciences and head of the Department of Retroviruses (the name of Vladimir Ternovoy can also be found on the same list).
NGS contacted Biolink director Alexander Kornienko. He declined to comment on the investigation into the criminal case and was unable to answer the question of whether the investigation has questions for his employees, but assured that in his eyes, Vladimir Ternovoy does not look like a criminal.
«Let»s just say I have a radically different view of this matter [than the SK employees],« said Alexander Kornienko. »I have known Vladimir Alexandrovich for more than ten years; he is a decent, kind, and honest scientist. I don«t know exactly what happened; it»s hard for me to judge, but for me this is a shock.«
Vladimir Ternovoy himself did not want to speak with journalists, noting only that he is certainly glad that he was given a preventive measure of house arrest rather than detention.
Episode 2. Fraud Using Official Position
According to the second part of the charge, Vladimir Ternovoy fraudulently stole money allocated to researchers under the national project «Science and Universities.»
«He is accused of stealing an organization»s funds by transferring them through forged documents to accounts of an affiliated organization,« the Novosibirsk Region Prosecutor»s Office said.
None of the agencies that reported the scientist«s detention disclosed exactly how much money he allegedly stole.
As a colleague of Vladimir Ternovoy told NGS on condition of anonymity, the detention of the lab chief surprised not only Biolink«s director.
«Everyone who knows Vladimir Alexandrovich is in shock. He is a scientist, not a crook; no one believes he could have taken any money,» the NGS source assured the journalist. «As far as I know, [on the second episode] he is accused of stealing some money, and this looks very strange: it is about 130,000 rubles (approx. $1,400 at current rates), and as far as I know, he just made out the documents incorrectly to use them. That can happen to anyone.»
When asked what Vladimir Ternovoy«s colleagues think about the bribery charge, the journalist»s interlocutor said he could not discuss details but assured that he considers the investigators« version mistaken or far-fetched and hopes that in the end »the competent authorities will sort everything out.«
Criminal cases against scientists are not being opened in Novosibirsk for the first time. In 2024, a professor of thermal physics was found guilty of fraud for 7 million rubles, and earlier, four well-known scientists were accused of a serious article on high treason, which raised many questions among their colleagues.
