St. Petersburg professor fired after students make video about different professor who lost job for defending anti-war protester Sasha Skochilenko

Journalist Alexander Chizhenok has been fired from his position as a professor at St. Petersburg State University’s School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

The news outlet Fontanka links Chizhenok’s dismissal to a video his students made about an earlier statement signed by current students, graduates, and faculty members in support of Svetlana Drugoveiko-Dolzhanskaya, another professor who was fired in October. The official reason for Drugoveiko-Dolzhanskaya’s ousting was her criticism of her colleagues who prepared a “linguistic analysis” for the prosecution in the case against Sasha Skochilenko, a St. Petersburg artist who was arrested in April 2022 for posting anti-war stickers in a grocery store. Drugoveiko-Dolzhanskaya also served as an expert witness for Skochilenko’s defense team.

Chizhenok’s profile has been removed from the university’s website (though an archived version is still accessible).