In 2013 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) – one of the world’s most prestigious, and wealthiest, universities – entered a $300 million collaboration to found the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, or Skoltech, outside the Russian capital.
MIT elected Vekselberg to its board of trustees in 2013, a move that appeared to cement a lasting relationship. But today you won’t find the Russian billionaire identified as a trustee.
The MIT quietly scrubbed Vekselberg from its board in 2018, following the US Treasury Department’s decision to list him and his business group among the Russian officials, “oligarchs,” and companies to be penalized for advancing Moscow’s “malign activities.”
The previously unreported development reveals an effort to shield MIT from legal problems raised by continuing to do business with someone on the US blacklist. It also highlights how US companies and organizations have sought to untangle themselves from such relationships amid the downward spiral in US-Russian relations.
MIT quietly untangles itself from blacklisted Russian billionaireRead More
