I was deeply shocked by the accusations against Dr. Oleg Viktorovich Maltsev because I know him as someone who does not align with these allegations in any way.

Therefore, I will provide only the facts:

During the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, Oleg Maltsev, along with Professor Harvey Wolf Kushner—a prominent US expert on international terrorism who investigated the 9/11 events in New York, and professor and chair of the Department of Criminal Justice—organized the publication of Ukrainian scientists in the renowned journal American Behavioral Scientist. The first joint issue was prepared in anticipation of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s first visit to the United States in December 2022. My wife, an associate professor Nataliia Lepska, and I personally contributed an article titled “The War in Ukraine and Its Challenge to NATO: From Peacekeeping to Peace Engineering,” discussing how NATO should lead the peace engineering process to support Ukraine.

One year later, Professor Harvey Kushner and Oleg Maltsev organized a special issue on terrorism. Lepska and I authored an article titled “The Phenomenon of the Terrorist State in Contemporary Geopolitics: Attributive, Static, and Dynamic Characteristics”. In this article, we scientifically substantiated for scholars in the United States and abroad all the indicators of a terrorist state as exhibited in the aggression of the Russian Federation.

Throughout the full-scale war launched by the Russian Federation against Ukraine, academician Maltsev, in his capacity as a scientist and organizer of scientific activities, initiated international conferences and meetings that addressed the work of Ukrainian scientists in wartime, the nature of the conflict, and various research directions (“Unknown wars” and “Local and Global Impacts of the War in Ukraine”). All conferences are publicly available. The invited speakers include esteemed scholars whose research is at the forefront of modern science, such as Professor Antonio Nicaso (the best-selling author and expert on organized crime), Professor Emilio Viano, and Professor Jerome Krase (a sociologist and visual sociologist), among others. Additionally, Maltsev interviewed prominent scholars whose names are widely recognized, including Professor Daniel Kahneman (Nobel laureate, who has sadly passed away) and Professor Geoffrey West (a notable theoretical physicist and former president and distinguished professor of the Santa Fe Institute).

Criminology plays a crucial role in research, especially in addressing organized crime. Oleg Maltsev has conducted interviews and organized conferences with leading figures in criminology, psychology, sociology, philosophy, and urban studies. I have not mentioned all the esteemed scholars in this field with whom he has fostered scientific communication. Together with Dr. Maltsev, we co-authored three monographs focusing on photography and visual sociology within criminology. 

I personally do not believe in academician Oleg Viktorovich Maltsev's betrayal and look forward to his prompt return to his scientific and research endeavors!

Prof. Dr. Maxim Lepskiy

____

Prof. Dr. Maxim Lepskiy is a full Professor, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor of Social Sciences and Administration at Zaporizhzhia National University. Head of Research Board in Social Forecasting Sociological Association of Ukraine, Academician of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, Certified VIP Negotiation and Mediation Trainer. He is an Academician of the European Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and Ukrainian Academy of Sciences.