Kazan University Lecturer Warns Students Against Participating in Pro-Navalny Rallies, Saying Oppositionist Is a "Scumbag" and Putin Is a "Tsar"

A lecturer at the Kazan National Research Technical University named after Tupolev (KNITU-KAI) warned students against participating in rallies for opposition leader Alexei Navalny, saying that he is a "loser" and that Putin is a "tsar." An audio recording of the speech was posted by the Kazan student online magazine "Veter."

The publication reported that the recording was sent by students. It is not specified when it was made. The male voice on it belongs to KNITU-KAI teacher Oleg Tikhonov, Veter claims. According to information on the university's website, Tikhonov teaches computer science-related subjects there.

The teacher called on students not to "spoil their biography" and not to "stand up" for Navalny. He added that he knows people from Kirov who "will tell you who Navalny is" (probably referring to the Kirovles case , in which the oppositionist was tried).

Father, in your third year you will receive a security clearance form . But you may not receive it. I just want to tell you. Do you understand? Do you understand, what am I talking about? We will Navalny these… I understand, you can stand up for anyone, but for this scum… Well, I won’t say. But you don’t need to stand up for this jerk. <…>

I'm not saying that Putin is this... But he is a tsar, as I say, right? I want to tell you right away - he is a tsar! Are you trying to make a claim against Peter the Great, or what? For building St. Petersburg? Well, he built it with state funds. Anyone can imagine that now, right? True, in the end they got nothing, you know, right? They don't live in hermitages and so on. But I'm just saying this for your information. Let him build, for Christ's sake! It's not his to get anyway. He'll kick the bucket sooner or later, as I say. The same Putin, right?

• On January 23 and 31, February 2 and 14, Russia held protests in support of Navalny, who was detained after returning from Germany and received a real sentence in the Yves Rocher case . Shortly before the first protest, the FBK released a film about "Putin's palace" near Gelendzhik, the construction of which, as the foundation claimed, cost no less than 100 billion rubles.
• Among those detained at the January 23 rally in Kazan were KNITU-KAI students. The university's vice-rector for educational activities, Aleksey Lopatin, assured that they would not be expelled for this. At the same time, Lopatin added, the university will ask its students whether they were at the rally, "to understand whether our preventive measures are working or not."