The scandal came to light after the scientist was rejected a place to do her PhD at the biological research facility in a message sent apparently by a member of the institute, who said that the Beatson had "very recently… established a new policy upon which I am unable to appoint you because you are Russian."
The Beatson Institute published a statement by its director, Owen Sansom, who denied that there was ever a policy of declining any applications from Russian students, saying all applications were "reviewed against external checks, such as visa requirements or UK government sanctions."
"In this case there was an initial misunderstanding of these restrictions, which has been addressed. We have contacted the applicant involved to offer them a place and have apologised for any distress caused. We are reviewing our processes internally to prevent this issue from occurring again in future," he wrote further.
Instances of discrimination against Russians have been mounting across the European Union and the United Kingdom since a conflict broke out in Ukraine. More commonly, banks have been freezing accounts of Russian residents despite them not being subject to individual sanctions. Some EU officials have warned that overreach could damage European interests.