People’s Friendship University of Russia fires rector for student affairs following an exhibition that displayed the Ukrainian flag

The People’s Friendship University of Russia has replaced its vice rector for student affairs, after an exhibition at the university featured a Ukrainian flag.

The exhibition in question, which ran at the end of February, was devoted to national communities, and featured a section on Ukrainian culture.

After propaganda media outlets ran negative coverage of the exhibition, Russia’s Ministry of Science and Higher Education decided to investigate the university. Deputy Minister Konstantin Mogilevsky said that displaying the flag “of a state currently headed by a neo-Nazi regime, a state whose armed formations kill under that flag, is absolutely impermissible.”

Sergey Bazavluk, the former vice rector for student affairs, noted that the university’s chief mission is to unite people of different nationalities. He also said that, given the current reality, students from Ukraine studying in Russia need support.

Bazavluk was replaced in his capacity as vice rector by Mikhail Katsarsky. The university’s website notes that Katsarsky has served for more than eight years on the Federation Council.