In the early 1990s, according to rumors, he became friends with Vladimir Putin, then a city official in Saint Petersburg.
[1] However, Eduard Kruglyakov, the head of the Russian Academy of Sciences pseudoscience commission, stated that he examined Petrik's technology with high-powered equipment and found no trace of nanotechnology.
In addition, a Russian nuclear agency has tested Petrik's radioactive waste filter and found it inadequate.
United States Patent 7842271 is for "Mass production of carbon nanostructures", with an issue date of November 30, 2010.
United States Patent 7128881 is for "Configurations and methods for water purification", with an issue date of October 31, 2006.
Boris Gryzlov, the former Speaker of Russia's State Duma (the lower house of parliament), is a staunch defender of Petrik's work.
[1] Gryzlov collaborated with Petrik for a filter which they claim is capable of turning radioactive waste into potable water.
Petrik states that Gryzlov has participated in many of his experiments[1] and they share a common patent on a "Method of cleaning liquid radioactive waste".