Fusion – the energy source of the sun and the stars – is one CO2-free option as a future energy source. Magnetic confinement of high temperature plasmas in toroidal geometry allows to approach fusion conditions. The most successful concept is the tokamak, which has been conceived in Russia in the 50ies of last century. The first experimental fusion reactor, ITER, is under construction in France with Russia being one of the seven project members. With the MEGA-Grant support, the RLPAT was founded at the SPbSPU in cooperation with the IOFFE Institute. Its scientific programme was organised around the most urgent issues of the national Russian fusion programme and of the international programme oriented toward the needs of ITER. In detail, the non-linear relation between plasma turbulence and plasma flows, the confinement of high-energy particles and exhaust issues were studied using the three tokamaks of the IOFFE institute – Globus-M, Tuman-3M and FT-2.