Institute bred mice to test vaccines against COVID robbed in Moscow

On Friday, September 3, an investigator of the police department for the Gagarinsky district opened a criminal case on the fact of stealing money from the Institute of Gene Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. This was told to RBC by a source in the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Moscow and confirmed by a source in the territorial police department.

RBC sent a request to the institute and the press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Moscow.

The source said that the money was stolen on August 28. “At night, an unknown person entered through the window into the offices of researchers located on the second floor,” the source said. The attacker opened the safes in two offices and stole money belonging to the head of the laboratory and two chief researchers of the institute.

According to the source, the total material damage amounted to 3.9 million rubles. The Criminal Code provides for punishment for this type of crime up to ten years in prison.

The Institute of Gene Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences is a leading research center for the study of molecular and cellular biology, according to its website. This institution conducts research on various aspects of the functioning of the genome and cells.