Political scientist collided with politics – Picture of the Day – Kommersant
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The Perm Humanitarian Pedagogical University fired political scientist Vitaly Kovin, who was included in the register of foreign agents last year. The official reason is a job cut. However, Mr. Kovin believes that the rector’s office is afraid that foreign agents will be banned from teaching. The university itself does not comment on the situation.
Vitaly Kovin announced his dismissal from the Perm State Humanitarian Pedagogical University (PSGPU) in his Telegram channel. He noted that this happened two years before the expiration of the contract with the university. “Formally, I was fired due to a reduction in the teaching load and position, although the subjects and hours that I led did not disappear. They were simply passed on to other teachers. Informally, because of the status of a foreign agent, or rather, because of the pressure that the leadership of the university experienced. I was told that back in the spring the question about me was raised several times at meetings of the rectors of Perm universities with the heads of the regional administration and the “siloviki”,” the former teacher wrote.
Vitaly Kovin, Ph.D. in History, coordinator of the Perm branch of the movement for the protection of the rights of voters “Voice” (in August 2021, he was included in the register of unregistered public associations that act as a foreign agent). At the Perm Pedagogical University, of which he himself is a graduate, Mr. Kovin has taught since 1999, taught historical and political science disciplines. In the register of media-foreign agents, he was on September 29, 2021. The reason for this was three transfers to his bank account in the amount of 69 rubles. up to 500 rubles from citizens of Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, as well as his “participation in the preparation of materials by foreign media agents” and their “distribution” on his Facebook page (owned by Meta, which is recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation and banned). Mr. Kovin disputed its inclusion in the register of media-foreign agents in the Motovilikha District Court of Perm, but received refusal. Then the political scientist tried to appeal this decision to the court of appeal, but it was left unchanged.
In an interview with Kommersant, Vitaly Kovin clarified that his dismissal took place before the start of the school year. He believes the main reason was the adoption new law “On control over the activities of persons under foreign influence”, which will come into force on December 1 this year. “In accordance with it, as a foreign agent, I will be prohibited from working in state educational institutions. But since by September 1 the university had to draw up a plan, recruit teachers and distribute the workload between them, it would be inconvenient to fire me after the law came into force, in the middle of the academic year, so it was decided to do it in advance,” said Mr. Kovin. According to the political scientist, the Pedagogical University was not the only place of work for him and he taught part-time: “But I liked it. Now I continue to challenge the status of a foreign agent in court. He also filed an application with the Ministry of Justice to withdraw from the register of foreign agents, in late October – early November, the ministry’s response should come.
I hope that in the end I will be able to get rid of this status. Then there will be no formal reasons not to allow me to work at the university, and I hope I will be able to return to the university,” said Vitaly Kovin.
The press service of PSGPU stated that they did not comment on the situation.
Dmitry Gorbunov, a partner at the law firm Rustam Kurmaev & Partners, finds it difficult to assess the likelihood of Vitaly Kovin being excluded from the register of foreign agents. “Examples of positive termination decisions are few, but they do exist,” he notes. According to him, if Mr. Kovin gets rid of the status of a foreign agent, the university will have no obvious difficulties in hiring a political scientist – “but from a reputational point of view, even the termination of the status cannot guarantee success in this matter. It is possible that a certain amount of time will be required before new employment, ”Dmitry Gorbunov believes.
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