Professors Who Fail to Support Putin Line on Crimea Fired

One of Russia’s most prestigious universities announced the firing Monday of a history professor who had publicly criticizing the Kremlin’s policies towards Ukraine.

Moscow’s MGIMO University announced the annulment of its contract with history professor Andrei Zubov.

“Numerous statements and interviews of Zubov A.B. about what the situation in Ukraine and Russia’s foreign policy cause an outrage and bewilderment in the university environment. They contradict Russia’s foreign policy, subject government actions to reckless and irresponsible criticism, harm the learning and educational process,” the university said in a statement.

“Leaving the inappropriate and offensive historical analogies and characterizations to Zubov A.B.’s conscience, MGIMO leadership deemed the continuation of his work impossible,” the university said.

Zubov had written an article for the March 1 issue of Vedomosti, titled, “This Happened Before.” Zubkov appealed for the government to end Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, arguing that Putin’s actions were reminiscent of Nazi Germany’s in the 1930s.

“We are on the verge of complete destruction of the system of international treaties, economic chaos, and political dictatorship. We are on the verge of war with our closest, kindred people of Ukraine, a sharp deterioration in relations with Europe and America, on the verge of a cold, and, perhaps, a hot war with them,” Zubov wrote.

I am curious as to on what basis Zubov wrote his harsh criticism of the Russian takeover of Crimea. What part of the following history does Zubov claim that Russia is on the wrong side of?

1783: Russia annexed Crimea.

1853: The Crimean War began, lasting three years. Russia lost to an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, Britain and Sardinia. Crimea remained part of Russia.

1917: Crimea briefly became a sovereign state before becoming a base for the White Army of anti-Bolshevik forces in the Russian War.

1921: The peninsula, now called the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, became part of the Soviet Union.

1942: Nazi Germany took control of Crimea.

1944: Joesph Stalin forcibly deported all Muslim Tatars, a group of 300,000 who had lived on the peninsula for centuries, due to members’ alleged cooperation with Germany during World War II. Many returned to Crimea in the 1980s and 1990s.

1945: After World War II, the autonomous Soviet republic was dissolved and Crimea became a province of the Soviet Union called the Crimean Oblast.

1954: Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev transferred the Crimean Oblast to Ukraine. It’s often reported that it was a gesture of goodwill from Khrushchev, who had Ukrainian roots.

1991: The Soviet Union collapsed. Many expected President Boris Yeltsin, the new president of the Russian Federation, to take Crimea for Russia. But he didn’t bring it up during negotiations with Ukraine.

1997: Ukraine and Russia signed a treaty that allowed Russia to keep its fleet in Sevastopol. The agreement’s since been extended, so the fleet is set to remain there until at least 2042.

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