Russian universities intensify measures against anti-war activists

Where students are being expelled

Up until the mid-2010s, major scandals involving the expulsion of students for political reasons in Russia were rare. In September 2006, Yulia Ledkova, a National Bolshevik activist, was expelled from the Nizhny Novgorod Theatre School for “deliberately committing an administrative offense.” This was the first known political expulsion in modern Russia. It followed a takeover of the Ministry of Finance building by members of the National Bolshevik Party, who protested government policies using slogans like “Kudrin, pay up!” — a reference to the then-finance minister Alexei Kudrin — and “Money for the masses, officials are asses!” The activists demanded the resignation of the president, who was then barely mid-way through his second term in the Kremlin.

The school director deemed Ledkova’s involvement in the protest a breach of “moral and ethical principles” — a rationale that would later become a common pretext for politically motivated expulsions of students and dismissals of professors. However, in this case, Ledkova was swiftly reinstated after MPs from Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, intervened.

From 2006 to 2016, there were only six known cases of expulsions motivated by students’ political activities. However, the situation changed significantly in 2017, when students became a driving force behind Alexei Navalny’s anti-corruption protests.

From 2017 to 2024, at least 85 students were expelled from Russian universities and colleges for political reasons, according to an analysis conducted by The Insider, which scoured open sources including media reports, statements from human rights organizations, and university websites. Nearly 80% of these expulsions — 67 cases in total — occurred after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Prior to 2022, most politically motivated expulsions were seen in regional universities, but following the invasion, they became concentrated in St. Petersburg. Since the start of the war, 23 students have been expelled from universities based in the city, with 12 of these cases involving St. Petersburg State University (SPbU).

Following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, most politically motivated expulsions occurred at universities based in St. Petersburg.

The only university with more political expulsions than SPbU was the Kunta-Haji Islamic University in Chechnya. In October 2022, 17 students were kicked out of the institution for refusing to take part in a rally supporting the sham “referendums” that would see Russia annex four regions of Ukraine — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia. This case was the only one documented by human rights organizations and the media. However, the true number of expulsions at this university may be higher, as information from Chechnya remains limited due to a lack of transparency — unlike in St. Petersburg, where a strong network of local media and student organizations ensures greater visibility.

St. Petersburg universities have the highest reported number of expulsions, though examples can be found at 40 universities nationwide — including 10 in Moscow.

The statistics also exclude numerous instances in which expulsion was merely threatened. For example, after anti-war protests in February 2022, SPbU issued 46 expulsion orders targeting students detained during the demonstrations. However, following media scrutiny and advocacy from the Student Council, the university reduced the punishments to formal reprimand.

Not all institutions of higher learning are alike — not even in Russia. The more complex a university’s internal structure, the easier it is for students and professors to maintain their independence, exiled political activist and former associate professor at Moscow State University’s (MSU) Mechanics and Mathematics Department Mikhail Lobanov told The Insider. Lobanov himself was dismissed in July 2023 after being labeled a “foreign agent” — a designation that prohibits teaching in Russian universities.

“At MSU, there are many long-established departments with deeply rooted communities. These are an important part of the identity for both professors and students. When a directive ‘from above’ came to deal with someone, it would soften significantly as it passed from the university administration to the department, and then to the student. The department head, for instance, might say, ‘You’re essentially doing the right thing, but let’s make you less visible for now to ease the faculty’s concerns.’”

Mikhail Lobanov, a Russian mathematician, trade union activist, and former associate professor at Moscow State University’s Mechanics and Mathematics Department.

Other universities employ vague wording in their rules, allowing administrators to find an applicable statute as needed. For example, they may prohibit actions that “damage the university’s reputation,” or else require students to “adhere to spirituality and patriotism,” or mandate that they “behave in a manner befitting the honorable title of student.” Appealing to such regulations, universities have expelled students for activities as varied as running a beauty blog allegedly “promoting gender change,” joking about the Russian tricolor flag during an assembly, or refusing to sing the Russian national anthem.

All of these prohibitions are unlawful, as universities have no right to enforce their rules on students’ behavior outside the institution, notes Timur Tukhvatullin: “Expelling students for political actions violates their constitutional right to education, even if it complies with the university’s internal policies.”

Expelling students for political actions violates their constitutional right to education.

In March 2024, Moscow State University (MSU) student Oleg Tarasov was expelled for naming his dormitory Wi-Fi network “Slava Ukraini!” (Glory to Ukraine), and the university’s ethics committee supported the decision. Oleg recounts that someone reported him to the police, leading to a search of his dorm room by law enforcement. The next day, a court sentenced him to 10 days of administrative arrest. “I renamed the router a year ago and never thought it would land me in jail. When the search happened, I immediately assumed I’d be expelled, and I came to terms with that while in detention.”

The expulsion order (made available to The Insider) states that Tarasov was dismissed for violating the university’s internal rules, specifically for “committing an immoral act,” “breaking dormitory regulations,” and being “undisciplined.”

During the ethics committee hearing (the audio recording of which was made available to The Insider), Oleg explained that his intent was to mock other dorm Wi-Fi networks named with the symbols Z and V — which express support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In response, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Public Administration Maxim Fomenko deemed Oleg’s actions “immoral” and told Tarasov he was expelled:

“Oleg Sergeevich, I’d like to remind you that you are studying at Moscow University at the expense of the federal budget, and that our country and its armed forces are conducting a special military operation in Ukraine… Your actions, which you have admitted to and from which you do not retract, contradict Russian law… The faculty considers your behavior immoral and has decided to expel you.”

“I was the only one in my class who failed an exam”

Universities also use non-political reasons to expel students. According to Tukhvatullin, university administrations can artificially create situations in which a student accumulates academic debts — for instance, by intentionally failing them in an exam or refusing to accept their coursework. This happened to LGBTQ activist Alan Yerokh (Yaroslavl State Pedagogical University), journalist Lena Skvortsova (St. Petersburg State University), union activist Alexander Mikheev (St. Petersburg State University), and National Bolshevik Party member Mikhail Axel (Moscow State Law Academy).

Sometimes, university administrations selectively punish students. For example, several students might miss classes without a valid excuse, but only one of them — usually a politically active student — faces consequences. This occurred with students Matvey Vyalkov (Tyumen State University) and Alan Misikov (Russian State Social University).

In September 2022, Andrey Kotenko, a journalism student at St. Petersburg University of Humanities and Social Sciences, was expelled for “poor academic performance.” According to him: “I was the only one out of 90 people in my year who failed the History of Russian Journalism exam, even though the weakest students passed it. I got top marks in related subjects like Russian History and History of International Journalism, so it’s impossible that I couldn’t even score a passing grade.”

Since the start of the war, Andrey’s Instagram account, where he posted anti-war content, had been monitored by university administrators. In May 2022, he was summoned by Irina Kholodova, the head of student affairs, who showed him printouts of his posts and stories criticizing the university, opposing the war, and supporting Maria Rakhmaninova, a lecturer who resigned after being reported.

Earlier, Andrey was also summoned by Valeria Kudran, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Culture. She questioned him about a dispute with a pro-war classmate in a group chat, and also about his Instagram posts. As Andrey explains it, “My own classmates turned me in — they were the only ones who knew the details that were brought to the administration.” During the exam, Kudran gave Andrey a negative review, accusing him of skipping classes during sick leave (based on an archived photo he posted of himself outdoors) and making “inappropriate statements” on social media.

Although two out of four professors voted to certify him, Andrey was expelled for «failing to fulfill the academic requirements.» But in March 2023, he successfully sued the university for over 1.1 million rubles.

A student expelled from a St. Petersburg university successfully sued the institution for over 1 million rubles.

Occasionally students expelled for political reasons manage to have their dismissals overturned. For example, two female students at MSU’s Faculty of Journalism were expelled by the ethics committee, led by Dean Elena Vartanova, for condemning a classmate’s use of pro-war symbolism. However, they were later reinstated.

“We started forming an initiative group to campaign for their rights,” recalls Mikhail Lobanov. “I planned to present our case to MSU Rector Viktor Sadovnichy, framing it as: ‘We understand you’re trying to keep this sensitive issue from dividing the university, but Vartanova is acting against that goal.’” Eventually, Sadovnichy allowed the students to continue their studies.

According to Lobanov, MSU has a long-standing tradition of mounting campaigns to protect students’ and professors’ rights. Over the past 10 years, there have been only five known cases of political expulsions at MSU, two of which were later overturned.

How professors are dismissed

While pressure on students grew after 2017, pressure on professors began even earlier. The first known politically motivated dismissal was in 2011, when HSE refused to renew the contract of Yevgenia Albats — a prominent Russian journalist and editor-in-chief of The New Times.

Between the time of Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, at least 38 professors were dismissed or forced to resign. Since February 2022, 54 more have joined their ranks. Notably, this figure does not include those who resigned in protest or out of solidarity, nor researchers who did not work directly with students.

The Higher School of Economics (HSE), once Russia’s most liberal university, has led the way in politically motivated dismissals, letting go of or forcing out 34 professors — 12 of them since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Another 12 were let go in 2020, one year after Navalny had inspired massive protests in connection with local elections in Moscow. HSE cited “restructuring” as the reason the professors’ contracts were not renewed, but most of those who were let go had previously criticized Russian authorities or university leadership. Victor Gorbatov, a former professor at HSE’s School of Philosophy, pointed to an alleged blacklist of “untrustworthy” staff, which was used to justify the dismissals.

While Moscow’s HSE typically unburdened itself of politically active staff without giving clear reasons, St. Petersburg State University often claimed its dismissals were due to “immoral behavior.” Since the start of the war, the university has dismissed at least eight professors for political reasons, and the ideologically-motivated closure of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences after the start of the war led to the voluntary — or forced — departure of dozens more.

St. Petersburg State University often claimed its dismissals of professors were due to their “immoral behavior.”

For instance, history professor Mikhail Belousov was fired for his anti-war posts on social media and for allegedly lacking “normal human feelings” about the death of a student who volunteered for the front. The ethics committee deemed this a “violation of moral and ethical standards.” Six of his anti-war students were also expelled shortly thereafter.

Philosophy professor Maxim Kulaev was dismissed after he protested the inclusion of a priest on an examination board, expressing his sentiments by hanging Soviet-era anti-religious posters in the faculty room. The ethics committee claimed Kulaev’s “immoral actions” intentionally offended religious colleagues.

Other dismissals include philosophy lecturer Denis Skopin, who participated in a peaceful anti-mobilization protest; Ukrainian history expert Tatyana Tairova-Yakovleva, who recorded an anti-war statement that mentioned the phrase “Ukraina peremozhe” (“Ukraine will prevail”); and philologist Svetlana Drugoveyko-Dolzhanskaya, who conducted an independent investigation into a student’s criminal case.

How political repression became the norm

Although repression in universities became systematic following the protests launched by Alexei Navalny in 2017 and 2018 and further intensified after the invasion of Ukraine, its roots go back to the late 2000s and early 2010s. At that time, according to historian Dmitry Dubrovsky, the state stripped universities of much of their autonomy in exchange for “serious money.” Dubrovsky was dismissed from SPbU in 2015 and was subsequently let go from HSE in 2022.

“This created a situation where real power in universities — at least in the leading ones — shifted from the ’parliament,’ the academic council, to rectors and individual tenured professors. These individuals, motivated by high salaries, were willing to tolerate the lack of democracy and remained unaffected by violations of rights,” he explains.

In the early 2000s, most university leaders were still elected by academic councils. After 2005, this system was steadily dismantled. In 2009, the State Duma abolished elections for the rectors at MSU and SPbU, and in 2013, HSE followed suit.
“One could say that Russian universities have mirrored the degradation of the democratic system across the entire Russian Federation,” says Dubrovsky.

Russian universities have mirrored the degradation of the democratic system across the entire Russian Federation.

In 2019, Vladimir Putin gained the authority to extend the terms of MSU Rector Viktor Sadovnichy and SPbU Rector Nikolai Kropachev indefinitely. “Today, rectors at these universities are essentially all-powerful leaders with the ability to act without limitations,” says Mikhail Lobanov.

Lobanov notes that the decline in university autonomy occurred gradually. “In the 2000s, the regime’s consolidation and centralization of power reached the academic sphere slightly later than other sectors,” he explains in reference to the elimination of elections for rector at MSU, SPbU, and HSE. Over time, rectors at other leading universities, including MIPT, MEPhI, Kazan Federal University, and the Far Eastern Federal University, also became government appointees. Increasingly, these roles were filled not by academics, but by “professional managers” closely tied to the authorities.

Another issue plaguing Russian universities is the widespread practice of short-term contracts for professors. In most cases of politically motivated dismissals, professors were employed on fixed-term agreements that were either not renewed or were terminated prematurely. “The majority of professors in Russia work under short-term contracts because it benefits their employers — directors, deans, and rectors,” Lobanov notes. “This places professors in a dependent position, where they demand less, and the administration is ready to carry out layoffs whenever it’s told to do so.”