MOSCOW — Russian scientists on Wednesday ridiculed a government plan to impose Soviet-style restrictions on their interactions with colleagues from around the world, such as seeking permission for meetings and submitting reports about each encounter with a foreign peer.

Russia’s Ministry of Science and Higher Education drafted the new recommendations in February and put them into effect right away, but they were not widely known until Tuesday, when Aleksandr L. Fradkov, a prominent scientist, denounced them in an open letter. Troitsky Variant, an independent science newspaper, published them.

The ministry instructed Russian scientists to ask permission to meet colleagues from abroad at least five days in advance, and to provide copies of the foreigners’ passports. It said that no Russian scientist should attend such a meeting alone — another Russian scientist should be present — and afterward the head of the Russian scientist’s institute should send a sealed report to the ministry with an “exhaustive account of the topics discussed.”

The guidelines also specified that Russian scientists would need their supervisors’ approval to meet foreign colleagues outside work. Foreign specialists faced restrictions, too. Under the rules, they would only be allowed to use electronic gadgets inside Russia’s scientific institutes if this was stipulated in “international agreements, signed by Russia,” according to the document.