"Cells of the Rusofobes of the Rusofobes"

Deductions, dismissal, denunciations and a ban on dissent: how censorship works in Russian universities

Since the beginning of the full -scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, dozens of Russian universities get rid of dissenters: students are expelled, teachers are dismissed. Criticism of the authorities and war becomes a reason for denunciation. Such cases are already at least in 34 Russian universities. Hundreds of students and teachers have already suffered from the censorship and pressure of the Russian authorities. The struggle of the authorities with critical thinking is in the material of the "cold".

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On March 1, 2024, students of the Far Eastern Federal University received a document entitled "The Rules for Administration of Communities and Channel Administration in Social Sets associated with FEFUs." He forbade publishing posts and comments in groups of the university with “propaganda of LGBT”, criticism of the state, authorities and any information about the war, contradicting the position of the Ministry of Defense. The administrators of public and channels were obliged to report to the “violators” to the university’s leadership-otherwise they will also be punished. The act for this document was an anti-war commentary in the DVFU telegram channel, where students could complain about the problems of the university and express their opinion.

“Almost always these are people with debts, dependencies that go to kill for money to get out of the life of the pit into which they consciously drawn up. I see no reason to sympathize with them, ” wrote a member of the DVFU Studio Council about people fighting in Ukraine.

On the author of this commentary, another member of the FEFU, Artem Mandritsa, was written by another member of the Student Council, which he boasted in his telegram channel, promising to send a complaint to the rector. The rector of the university Boris Korobets in his telegram channel praised Mandritsa for "a patriotic attitude in business and words on the Internet."

“In one of the chats, a person made it possible to speak negatively about people in the zone of military operations. And as it turned out later, he is an employee of this university. <...> I think there is no place for such people at the university, ”Mandrica wrote .

Later, in the public "DVFU", a post in support of a student with an anti -war position appeared . Eyewitnesses of the conflict said that the scammer forced the administrators of the group to remove the anti -war post. Artem Mandrica himself spoke to the pro -government media that “he encountered active half -hearts, curses and threats” and that he was afraid for his safety.

Analyzing the open data, the “cold” found more than 20 cases, when students and teachers were excluded or fired from Russian universities due to anti-war statements.

Incomplete list of dismissed teachers and students expelled for the anti -war position or criticism of the authorities:

• A student of the Tomsk Polytechnic University Bogdan Ovchinnikov in March 2023 was expelled for “violation of generally accepted norms of behavior” - he received a fine for participating in anti -war protest.

• A student of the Tomsk Polytechnic University Daniil Tebenkov was expelled in November 2022 for an administrative offense. The police arrested him for participating in a rally against mobilization.

• At the end of February, 2022, the students of REU named after Plekhanov Polina Lysenko and Antonin Begachev were expelled after they laid out anti -war storis on Instagram. In August 2022, the court ordered the university to restore Polina Lysenko at the university.

• A student of the St. Petersburg Humanitarian University of Trade Unions Andrei Kotenko was expelled in September 2022 as a “malicious double”. He himself believes that his anti -war position, which he openly expressed in social networks became the reason. After deducting, Kotenko was able to sue more than a million rubles from the university.

• In March 2022, St. Petersburg State University prepared orders for the expulsion of at least 13 students, whom the police detained on anti-war promotions.

• Students of the Institute of History of St. Petersburg State University Mikhail Sirazh and Pavel Arefichev were expelled in February-March 2023 due to inconvenient exams. The orphan actively opposed the war, and Arefichev - against the replacement of specialized objects with propaganda. Both students claim that they were specially poured on exams.

• Seven students of the Institute of History of St. Petersburg State University were expelled in June 2023 after a denunciation of them. They were accused of insulting the memory of the student, who died in the war, Fedor Solomonov. In the fall of 2023, one of them, Dmitry Kuzmin, was expelled from the Herzen RGPU historical faculty, where he entered after expulsion from St. Petersburg State University. This time the reason was an anti -war picket.

• Due to the denunciation in June 2023, the associate professor of the Institute of History of St. Petersburg State University Mikhail Belousov was fired . The ethics commission accused him of "discrediting" the army.

• In October 2023, a student of St. Petersburg State University Kirill Kaverin was expelled for a campaign against the demolition of a historical house in St. Petersburg. The police considered his actions “petty hooliganism” and arrested for 12 days.

• A student of St. Petersburg State University Polina Ulanovskaya, who fought for saving the Faculty of Free Sciences and for improving conditions in student dormitories, was expelled in February 2024.

• The teacher of St. Petersburg State University Svetlana Digone-Dolzhanskaya was fired in October 2023 after she acted as an independent expert in a criminal case of “fakes about the army”, by which the artist Sasha Skochilenko is judged. The Philologist Devilo-Dolzhanskaya found mistakes in the examination, which was ordered by the investigation. At the university, her performance was called "an immoral act."

• Six students of the St. Petersburg Pediatric University were expelled in March 2022. Reasons: “discrediting” of the army or criticism of the authorities.

• A student of Vladimir State University Evgeny Sautin was expelled in April 2022 after he left Russia due to a criminal case of anti-war graffiti. He said that he asked for an academic vacation, but he was refused and expelled after he did not come to the session.

• Student of the Northern (Arctic) Federal University (SAFU) Daria Dryadin was expelled in December 2022 two months before the release. Daria and her boyfriend left Russia after searches in the case of participation in the extremist community. It was not allowed to study in SAFU remotely with a shame.

• Students Safu Olesya Krivtsov and her husband Ilya Melkov were expelled in June 2023. Two criminal cases were instituted against Krivtsova-about the “justification of terrorism” because of a comment on the undermining of the Crimean bridge and the “re-discredit” of the Russian army.

• Student Timofei Ch. Distilled from the Krasnoyarsk Siberus named after Reshetnev after in January 2024. He argued with the teacher, and his words were recorded on the recorder, after which he was drawn up on the “discredit” of the Russian army.

• The teacher of the Belgorod State National Research University Tatyana Novikova was fired in July 2022 after she left an anti -war comment on VKontakte. It also drew up a protocol on the “discredit” of the Russian army.

• Associate Professor of the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of Moscow State University Mikhail Lobanov was fired in July 2023 due to its status of a “foreign agent”.

• In December 2022, Ilya Inishev and Dinar Gagarin with the wording of “immoral behavior” were fired from the NRU of the Higher School of NiU from the Higher School.

• The teacher of the First St. Petersburg Medical University Viktor Kornienko was fired in July 2023, due to his anti-war position on the denunciation of a friend, with whom Kornienko had a dispute due to the war in Ukraine.

• The teacher of the philosophy of St. Petersburg State University Denis Skopin was fired in October 2022 due to participation in the anti-war action.

ZA President

Representatives of the Lightning Student Project told Kholod that the censorship document adopted by the Far Eastern Federal University was not published on the official website of the university, but it already works - a violation of the new regulation can become an argument to expel the student.

“Like ethics commissions, this gives universities a“ legal ”frame for pursuing objectionable ones - for example, if the community administrator refuses to transfer the data of“ propaganda LGBT ”persons, the order on the expulsion can be referred to this act,” the activists say.

During the election campaign, public public publics turned into a tool not only censorship, but also propaganda - they were actively used to campaign to participate in the vote. Before the presidential election, at least 73 Russian universities were convicted of campaign for Vladimir Putin, but the prosecutor’s office recognized only one of the cases.

“In almost all major universities in Russia, there was illegal agitation for Putin and coercion to participate in elections or registration in the DEG system - we registered more than 70 cases. Despite the fact that this directly contradicts the law, law enforcement agencies massively ignore violations, not arguing their position in any way, at the same time, as if by magic, after our complaints, universities remove posts with illegal campaigning, ”said Lightning.

Representatives of Lightning notes that the university administration has many political pressure tools for students. Students cannot resist them: young people often do not have a financial opportunity to hire a lawyer in order to defend their rights.

"Magor-Rufobes cell"

In June 2023, seven students were expelled from the History Faculty of St. Petersburg State University. The reason was the posts in pro -government publics that under the leadership of the assistant professor of Mikhail Belousov, they “defended the memory” of student Fedor Solomonov, who died in the war in Ukraine. These students and teachers were called "a cell of the Rusofobes Zagrefrusya." In June 2023, the rector of St. Petersburg State University Nikolai Kropachev signed an order to dismiss Belousov “in connection with an immoral act”.

“On the day when they learned about the death of Fedor, Belousov and a similar biomurian was put on Avi of famous anti -fascists of the 20th century, in the fight against“ rashism. ”He attacked patriotic students, collecting various information and spreading it. This person should not only be fired, but planted in jail. How do we want to win while this is happening in our rear? " - wrote the propagandist Kirill Fedorov.

In June 2023, a criminal case on the rehabilitation of Nazism was opened against Belousov - he was accused of at a meeting of the Student Council, he allegedly “ denied the connection between the racial theory of Hitler and the course of the Great Patriotic War”.

Three months before, in March 2023, due to the denunciation of pro-government media, teachers of Moscow International University (MMU) Vladimir Sukhoi and Konstantin Miroshnikov were fired . The propagandists called the university "russian Russophobia" and wrote that "our youth teach the US and NATO." The reason for the denunciation was that Miroshnikov allegedly put the student “Nevod” for a report on an employee of the VGTRK Andrei Medvedev, saying that he was not a journalist.

“That's not all. The “theory of journalism” is taught to us by Vladimir Sukhoi. It is even more interesting here, from day to day - how beautiful in Ukraine and what a terrible Russia, what a wonderful Navalny and the Russians poisoned it. He reminds students that it is impossible to talk about the content of his lectures outside the group, ”the denunciation said.

"There is no limit to human cruelty"

One of the students expelled from St. Petersburg State University, Dmitry Kuzmin, was able to enter the Herzen Russian Pedagogical University of the Russian Pedagogical University. Kuzmin continued to go out on the pickets: for six months he was detained several times and taken to the police department, and in October 2023 he was also expelled from the RSPU due to the anti-war action. A month later, Kuzmina was forcibly taken to the police department and tried to hand him a summons to the military enlistment office, after which he left Russia.

For the associate professor and students deducted from St. Petersburg State University, the editor -in -chief of the independent student media “Studen” Alexander Zaitsev stood. She called the actions of the leadership of St. Petersburg State University "vile and unfair." After that, the university administration complained to Zaitsev in the police, and she was called to the meeting of the ethics commission. After that, the public "Stepodnya" almost ceased to be updated: the last post was published in October 2023, and it said that the ex-employee of the EE center Oleg Shaidulin became the new deputy vocational director for security.

Censorship at St. Petersburg State University affected all teachers. In July 2023, the university forbade its employees who can express themselves on behalf of the university, give comments and interviews to “foreign agents” and “undesirable” organizations. The Ethics Commission of St. Petersburg State University also recognized that students' comments on social networks may violate the local universant code .

A list of cities in which students were expelled for a civil position (data at the end of February 2024):

• St. Petersburg - 26 cases

• Grozny - 17 cases

• Moscow - 9 cases

• Novocherkassk - 5 cases

• Arkhangelsk - 5 cases

• Yaroslavl - 4 cases

• Krasnodar Territory - 3 cases

• Vladimir, Tomsk, Chelyabinsk, Yoshkar-Ola-2 cases

• Rostov-on-Don, Krasnoyarsk, Tyumen, Makhachkala, Murmansk, Petrozavodsk, Belgorod-one case.

At the beginning of 2024, the St. Petersburg State University was expelled a student of the Faculty of Free Arts and Sciences Polina Ulanovskaya, who participated in “smart observation” in the elections in his native Krasnodar Territory and helped independent deputies in the election campaign in 2020. According to Ulanovskaya, at the university she tried to save the Faculty of Free Arts when they decided to close it, completely replacing the program . She also joined the Committee for Work with Student Phases, but after a while they were accused of preparing the rally. After that, Ulanovskaya was expelled from the university allegedly for poor performance. The student tried to challenge the results of the commission, but she was refused. She was also refused recovery - according to her, this happened shortly before the graduation work. Ulanovskaya considers the decision of the leadership of the university political.

“It seems that there is no limit to human cruelty. I tried to recover. I perfectly passed the entrance and collected a list of “special merits” during her studies - victories and speeches at international conferences, thanks from the same administration that she signed an order on my deduction by a non -rotted hand. I was not restored without explanation, ” said Ulanovskaya.

She also told the “cold” that she was going to file a lawsuit against the university, but so far she could not do this. “To file a lawsuit against the university, I need an extract from the order of deductions, which the university has not yet issued: the fact is that I have not even been shown an order to deduct and the protocol of the commission with a decoding refusal to restore. I had to get all the information from the training department and other institutions with claws, ”says Ulanovskaya.

At the SPbSU itself, they say that they do not expel students for political views and civil position. But if an administrative or criminal case was brought against the student, "disciplinary measures are applied to such a student up to deductions."

Distributed for business

Most often, anti -tuned students are really expelled after administrative cases are being brought to them. One of the first such cases occurred with the student of the Tomsk Polytechnic University Bogdan Ovchinnikov, who was expelled with the wording of “violation of generally accepted norms of behavior” after a fine for an anti -war action.

According to the human rights project to help students "Lightning", from the beginning of 2022 to February 2024, at least 84 students illegally expelled from universities. Since the beginning of the full -scale invasion of Russia to Ukraine, universities began to closely monitor the social networks of students and communications within the institutions. Teachers are censored by thesis, and university employees monitor student chats. For example, in August 2023, students of the Moscow State Institute of Culture began to put pressure after Ekaterina Levdin, the head of the public relations department, was removed from the chat. After that, she threatened students in an article on the “discredit” of the army and called them “provocateurs, liberals and Zakhorian people”.

Since the summer of 2023, censors began to come to Russian universities - representatives of the authorities who have been noted by lectures and evaluate the work of teachers for compliance with the current ideas of the authorities. In one of the universities of the Krasnodar Territory, employees were banned from criticizing power during lectures, and controversial facts from history are required to submit without additional analysis. According to the teacher of one of the Samara universities, his colleague-historian was fired for the article he wrote.

Lightning recorded cases of pressure on students for criticizing the authorities or an anti -war position in 34 universities. Human rights activists note that this is an incomplete list: there may be more real cases.

Incomplete list of universities and colleges, where students faced pressure, censorship or deductions:

• St. Petersburg State University

• Moscow State University

• NRU HSE

• RSPU named after Herzen

• Томский политехнический университет

• Дальневосточный федеральный университет

• Кубанский государственный университет

• Северный (Арктический) федеральный университет

• Санкт-Петербургский педиатрический университет

• Первый Санкт-Петербургский государственный медицинский университет

• Санкт-Петербургский гуманитарный университет профсоюзов

• Владимирский государственный университет

• РЭУ имени Плеханова

• СибГУ имени Решетнева (Красноярск)

• Белгородский государственный национальный исследовательский университет

• ТюмГУ

• Российский Исламский университет им. Кунта-Хаджи (Грозный)

• РГУ нефти и газа им. Gubkina

• Институт международного права и экономики имени Грибоедова

• Академия МЧС (Москва)

• МИРЭА

• Марийский государственный университет

• Институт законодательства и сравнительного правоведения при Правительстве РФ

РГУП (филиал в Ростове-на-Дону)

• ЮУрГУ (Челябинск)

• МГТУ (Мурманск)

• ЯГТИ (Ярославль)

• Колыванский аграрный колледж

• Архангельский техникум водных магистралей им. С.Н. Орешкова

• Владимирский педагогический колледж

• Тимашевский техникум кадровых ресурсов

• СПО Владимирского госуниверситета

• Новочеркасский медицинский колледж

• Карельский колледж культуры и искусств

По подсчетам «Молнии», больше всего случаев давления, цензуры, отчислений и увольнений студентов происходило в петербургских вузах. С начала полномасштабного вторжения России в Украину оттуда отчислили и уволили как минимум 26 студентов и преподавателей, занимавших антивоенную позицию. По несколько таких случаев было зафиксировано в Северном (Арктическом) федеральном университете в Архангельске, Томском политехническом университете, МГУ и НИУ ВШЭ.