Police of St. Petersburg, Russia, have launched a minor hooliganism case against Aleksandra Elbakyan, the creator of the Sci-Hub resource. This was reported to TASS by the General Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the city and Leningrad region.

In December 2019, Elbakyan, a graduate of Saint Petersburg State University, spat on the participants of the university’s ethics committee's meeting. According to the university, the incident occurred during the aforesaid meeting that was examining Elbakyan's statement of "humiliations and insults" that she "had been subjected to ... by both professors and students, although she had worked quite well and successfully on the curriculum."

According to the alumna, she had spat because the committee members were rude to hem, and it seemed one of them was even going to hit her.

Aleksandra Elbakyan created the Sci-Hub internet service which provides illegal free access to texts of scientific articles.