Life has been difficult for scientists in states of the former Soviet Union since the fall of communism. Those who have not left to work elsewhere have often only been able to maintain active research through collaboration with Western researchers. But even this, it seems, carries its risks As a result of his participation in various European and US programmes, Sergei Piontkovski, a Ukrainian oceanographer who works at the Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas in Sebastopol, is facing charges of communicating ‘secret’ information to the West and illegally handling foreign currency (see Nature 401, 835 & 402, 6; 1999, and page 110 in this issue).

There is always the possibility that, unknown to his foreign collaborators, Piontkovski has been involved in such nefarious activities. But to most of those familiar with him and with the case, his ‘crime’ seems to have been no more than exchanging research data with foreign research teams on topics such as the distribution of plankton, and receiving support in hard currency from Western funding agencies.

By one account, the actions against him are the result of purely local initiatives, not of a clamp-down by central government. Piontkovski's international activities have been formally approved by the Ukrainian authorities in Kiev. It is to the credit of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences that it has spoken out in his defence, as well as that of colleagues who are also facing scrutiny by the local secret police.

But the affair should not be dismissed as a little local difficulty, as it has profound international implications. If the charges against Piontkovski are upheld by the court later this month, the result will inevitably have a chilling effect on scientific collaboration, not only with the Ukraine, but also with its neighbouring states, many of whose economies — and scientific communities – are already in a fragile enough state. Hopefully, reason will prevail, and any charges against Piontkovski and his colleagues will be dropped with the same speed with which they were initially made.