  We show, that higher analogs of the Willmore functional, defined on the space
of immersions M^2\rightarrow R^3, where M^2 is a two-dimensional torus, R^3 is
the 3-dimensional Euclidean space are invariant under conformal transformations
of R^3. This hypothesis was formulated recently by I.A.Taimanov
(dg-ga/9610013).
  Higher analogs of the Willmore functional are defined in terms of the
Modified Novikov-Veselov hierarchy. This soliton hierarchy is associated with
the zero-energy scattering problem for the two-dimensional Dirac operator.
