He received his doctorate degree in 1962 for his studies on the classical Tamil language with a focus on Tirukkural.
[2] He worked at Moscow State University, and published many articles on Tamil and Malayalam literature.
He collaborated with other Indologists such as M. Andronov, S. Rudin, Kamil Zvelebil, Chandra Shekhar and A Krishnamurti.
[3] As a Soviet dissident facing constant harassment by the KGB by 1972, he moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1975, where he became Professor in the Department of Russian Studies at Dalhousie University until 1995.
Dalhousie University has since 2006 presented an annual Yuri Glazov Memorial Award in his honour.