Associate Professor Lobanov, recognized as a foreign agent, was fired from Moscow State University – Kommersant

Mikhail Lobanov (recognized by the Ministry of Justice as a foreign agent) said that he was fired from his post as an assistant professor at the Mechanics and Mathematics Department of Moscow State University. He published a photo of the dismissal order in Telegram, the document is dated July 7 and signed by Vice-Rector Andrey Fedyanin.

The reason is called paragraph 13 of Art. 83 of the Labor Code (the emergence of restrictions on engaging in certain types of labor activity, excluding the possibility for the employee to fulfill obligations under an employment contract). Mr. Lobanov called his dismissal “a gross and deliberate violation of the Labor Code.” He also stated that “the leadership of the faculty refused in principle to take a sin on the soul”, and the rector of Moscow State University Viktor Sadovnichy “decided not to put his name on this order.”

“The initiative does not come from the leadership of Moscow State University – the dismissal was the result of rude and unprecedented pressure from outside. I am sure that I will return to teach at my native University after the inevitable transformation of the regime and the abolition of all repressive laws,” he wrote.

In 2022 in Russia adopted a law “On control over the activities of persons under foreign influence”, according to which foreign agents cannot engage in teaching, educational and educational activities. In June 2023 Mikhail Lobanov made to the list of foreign agents. July 8 he declared about MSU’s attempts to “emergency” dismiss him.

Laura Keffer