Russia's expatriate academic intelligentsia condemns Russia's invasion of Ukraine, denounces the conformism of academia in Russia and asks the Western world to open its doors to Russian students who are expelled from universities at home because they are against the war, but are not accepted in the West because they were students of Russian universities yesterday. Latvia is now home to the Free University, which, working in the form of an association, is trying to preserve Russian academic freedom of thought online.
The Free University is a product of pandemic times. It was created in Latvia in 2020, when education around the world was in the throes of a remote-age crisis, but in Russia it coincided with the regime's tightening of the political screws, censorship and persecution of dissenters.
The core of the online university is made up of academics who have been expelled from Russia or have emigrated voluntarily. Professionals in their fields. Scientists, public figures, journalists. Many of them are on lists of Russian foreign agents and employees of unwanted organizations, and several have been prosecuted in politically motivated criminal cases. The lessons are free of charge and take the form of seminars and courses. A wide range of humanities are represented - law, political science, philology, philosophy, history, media studies. The University is supported by donations and grants. It is not officially registered as an educational institution, as this is not possible in Russia for political reasons, and it does not meet the formal criteria in Latvia, as it operates only on the web. There is no building. That is why it is an association. And yet, even without the possibility of issuing official educational papers, it is popular among Russians from Russia because it ensures freedom of academic thought and the right to dissent. In less than two years, more than 3000 students have attended courses organized by the association.
Elena Lukyanova, a lawyer and state law scholar, is the Rector of the Free University founded in Latvia. For several years she was the lawyer of the opposition leader Mikhail Khodorkovsky. She was fired from her job at the Moscow Higher School of Economics, a state university, for publicly criticizing amendments to the Russian constitution. It should be recalled that these amendments effectively gave Russian President Putin's regime indefinite status, subordinated international law to Russian law and legitimized the so-called protection of compatriots abroad. This is what is currently happening in Ukraine - genocide against the Ukrainian people. Lukyanova signed a petition against the adoption of this constitutional amendment. She also signed a petition in support of the public protests in Belarus, and in February she signed an open letter against the war. It describes Russia's invasion of Ukraine as "a moral catastrophe for Russia, which puts the country on a par with fascist Germany". For Elena Lukyanova, returning to Russia is no longer an option, nor is it for most of her colleagues. Latvia is now her home.
Today, many people who do not accept the crimes and ideology of the Putin regime are seeking refuge abroad. But alongside this flow there are others. Neatkarīgā has already reported that along with the flow of refugees from Ukraine, "The flow of Russian citizens to Latvia is also on the rise." Streets are full of Russian number plates. Some are indeed fleeing Putin's regime, where critics of the war are severely punished. Others miss lobsters, microchips and other goodies of pre-war life. Others want to get in so that Latvia could become Russia. And it is important to sort these Russians correctly - not to lump good and bad Russians together. "That is our problem now, to show who we are. And our tragedy is that the order to invade was given in Russian. We are responsible for all these horrors," Elena Lukyanova admits to Neatkarīgā. 75% of the Russian population supports the invasion of Ukraine, so more than 100 million. But it is worth looking at the other side of this figure: 25% are against the war, and these 36 million people must not be abandoned to Russian propaganda. "They need education!" Elena Lukyanova stresses, and if it is no longer available at home, if political science is no longer taught in Russia, if history is no longer taught, then the West must at least allow Russia's expelled dissident students to study there. This is what the Free University and its faculty call for in their public statement "In Defense of Dissenting Russian Students and Teachers".
First of all, the statement defines a clear position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine:
"As teachers, scientists and scholars who find themselves outside the Russian Federation, we feel it necessary to make the following statement.
The invasion of Ukraine which started on February 24, 2022, the violation of its sovereignty and the grave crimes against humanity that followed became the source of suffering and loss of life in Ukraine, next to which all other interests, public and private, pale into insignificance. We are writing and signing this letter in the clear understanding of this fact."
The issues affecting Russian academia are outlined afterwards. Although caught in the same group of politically persecuted, academics initially tried to maintain positions of political neutrality. "But on February 24, 2022, this political neutrality came to an end. A letter in support of the illegal actions of the authorities was signed by 260 rectors of the largest universities of the Russian Federation." Former colleagues and employers thus supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Accordingly, the Western academic community announced sanctions against the official institutional Russian scientific and educational system.
What happened next in Russia? The Free University statement explains: "Thousands of students and graduates spoke out against their rectors' statements, and hundreds of faculty members were subjected to reprisals ranging from dismissals and expulsions to incarceration. Some of them managed to flee the country. In just the past month, nearly two million Russians have signed anti-war petitions. All those who oppose the war, who risk or lose not merely their positions but their freedom, remain allies of the free world. That is why sanctions against official Russian academia must be applied with this dissenting segment in mind (...)" Russian undergraduate and graduate students loyal to the free world are now being doubly punished: "The administration of their own state universities in Russia expels them for their anti-war statements, and foreign programs expel them for having been students at their universities yesterday. The individual waiver of sanctions so far applies only to academics and professors. The disregard for the safety, health, and lives of the students is unacceptable. This is the very generation that resists the crimes of the Russian regime to the best of its ability."
Is it possible that with this flow of Russian students committed to Western values, Kremlin sympathizers could also be coming here? Elena Lukyanova, Rector of the Free University, does not believe in such a possibility. They do not and cannot include anyone loyal to the Putin regime. That is why this is a university in exile, and that is precisely the legal status it will seek in Latvia. The Free University's statement concludes: "We share the values of the free world, the values of non-violence. We do not recognize the right of an aggressor state to dictate its will to others. Today, the Russian state has embarked on a path of brutal violence inside and outside the Russian Federation, and we are ready to support to the best of our ability those who are suffering directly or indirectly from this violence."
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