U.S. Department of State has canceled two research grants the Russian scientists got within Russian Initiative program framework in 2011.

As the Russian Izvestiya paper reports, USD 2 million was transferred to Russia to finance fundamental studies in the field of magnetoplasma aerodynamics in 2011-2014; the research was expected to be carried out on the base of the United Institute of High Temperatures (UIHT) of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

“The U.S. Department of State vetoed these grants after their assessment, nothing of the kind has ever happened before,” UIHT deputy director Eduard Son told the newspaper.

This decision resulted in closure of the Russian projects. In particular, research in the sphere of spacecraft flight management through magnetoplasma aerodynamics was suspended.

“We tend to think grants might be cancelled because the subject comes close to secret domains, the space, aerodynamics, hypersound. Maybe something caused alarm, and they closed the program,” head of UIHT magnetoplasma aerodynamics department Valentin Bityurin said.