One of Moscow’s top universities has launched a new master’s program aimed at training students to navigate Western sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. According to Illia Vitiuk, former head of cybersecurity at the SBU, Ukrainian intelligence has obtained Russian theses and research papers detailing how to exploit vulnerabilities in critical energy systems, telecom providers and media infrastructure. The Higher School of Economics (HSE), a leading Russian institution, said the two-year course will focus on international corporate compliance and business ethics, and will be taught in both Russian and English. The program is intended to prepare students for roles in compliance departments at major Russian companies, which have become increasingly important amid tightened export controls and financial restrictions. In June, authorities charged a Russian citizen living in New York with helping sanctioned Russian banks and transferring sensitive American technology to Russia through his cryptocurrency company. Since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, more than 1,300 international companies have scaled back operations in Russia, with around 500 exiting the market entirely, according to estimates by The Kyiv School of Economics. Ukraine’s security service (SBU) previously alleged that Russia runs academic programs, research labs and institutes focused on training students in cyber-offensive capabilities. The corporate exodus has pushed Moscow to develop domestic alternatives to Western technologies and services, and to train specialists capable of circumventing sanctions and maintaining access to restricted goods. The course, priced at $1,070, promises to teach students how to identify sanctions risks in cross-border transactions and assess deals for exposure to regulatory penalties. These kinds of programs existed before, but the HSE course marks a serious expansion, said Igor Lipsits, a former professor at the university, in comments to Russian media. European governments are seeking to crack down on Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” — a group of up to 1,000 aging ships with unclear ownership that transport banned Russian goods. Annual tuition is set at $6,260, with 20 places reserved for Russian nationals and two for foreign students. In addition to the degree, HSE is offering a shorter professional development course in sanctions compliance, comprising 136 hours of instruction. She writes about cybersecurity startups, cyberattacks in Eastern Europe and the state of the cyberwar between Ukraine and Russia.
This Cyber News was published on therecord.media. Publication date: Thu, 17 Jul 2025 13:55:23 +0000