A court in Ryazan fined and deported five Americans for speaking at a local university.

The Soviet District Court of Ryazan fined and deported five Americans for speaking at a local branch of the Moscow Polytechnic University. This is reported by the Side View publication, the information is also confirmed by cards from the court's website.

Representatives of the University of Buffalo Charles Lindsey, Molly Anderson, Courtney Walsh, Maria Gambino and Mary Rogers arrived at Ryazan University on December 6 at the invitation of Delovaya Rossiya. After the speeches of the guests, in which Molly Andersen said that she loves Russia and hopes to achieve "peace and progress" between the countries, the Americans answered questions and discussed with the students.

On the same day, it turned out that the Americans were detained and taken to the temporary detention center for foreign citizens. They were charged with “violation by a foreign citizen of the rules for entering the Russian Federation” (part 2 of article 18.8 of the Code of Administrative Offenses), believing that during the meeting they were engaged in teaching activities, while they had tourist visas.

The court sentenced the Americans to a fine, deportation, and a ban on visiting Russia for several years. At the meeting on December 10, a student and an employee of the university acted as witnesses, who stated that the guests did not just talk about their university, but gave a lecture.

• On November 27, the FSB banned entry to Russia for 10 years for French sociologist Karine Clement, who was supposed to give a lecture on street protests around the world.