MIPT cancels meeting with Dmitry Muratov

The meeting with the journalist, Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov, which was supposed to take place at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology on March 28, has been cancelled. This was announced by the rector of the Institute Dmitry Livanov. His words are given on the MIPT website.

Livanov stressed that an important condition for meetings with professionals from various fields for MIPT was “the depoliticization of these conversations.” According to him, in the case of the redemption of Muratov, this condition could not be met, since the announcement of the event “caused a flurry of negative emotions.” The rector of the institute noted that Muratov was not included in the register of foreign agents, which means that “there are no legal obstacles to his communication with the student audience or educational activities.”

“Under the current conditions, there is a serious risk of “external” provocations and an increase in tension in our community. Based on this, I decided to postpone this open meeting,” Livanov said. He added that MIPT will announce the new date of the event later.

The meeting was scheduled for March 28th. The announcement of the event appeared on the website and in the Telegram channel of the university the day before, on March 22. The messages were later deleted.

Muratov commented the situation in the Telegram channel of Novaya Gazeta. According to the journalist, he was called back in January, then he warned that “troubles would come with him.”

“I deeply respect students and teachers, the traditions of intellectual freedom, the great principles of Kapitsa, which united students and scientists. And, of course, I understand the reason why the university notified me and the students about the postponement of the meeting,” Muratov said.

Dmitry Muratov is the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta. In October 2021, he received the Nobel Peace Prize.

The editorial office of Novaya Gazeta suspended its activities at the end of March 2022 after two warnings from Roskomnadzor for mentioning an NGO-foreign agent without labeling. In September, the Basmanny Court of Moscow decided to cancel the license of Novaya Gazeta. The supervisory authority stated that the publication did not provide the editorial charter within the period established by the media law. The Supreme Court then shut down the newspaper’s website.