January 26, 2026

Avoiding Expulsion Through the Draft


Avoiding Expulsion Through the Draft
Moscow mayor Sergey Sobyanin giving a talk at the Higher School of Economics. Denis Grishkin, Wikimedia Commons.

Mediazona revealed that the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE) was pressuring students with poor academic performance into signing deceitful military contracts to fight in Russia's war in Ukraine.

T-invariant obtained internal documents from HSE. On January 19, the news outlet revealed that the university's administration was offering year-long military contracts to students who were on the verge of being expelled for poor academic performance. The students would then be sent off to fight in Ukraine. Recruits were promised drone operator positions in the military and a leave of absence from the university. According to HSE's documents, students who chose not to renew their military contracts would be guaranteed discharge.

Artem Klyga, a human rights activist from the organization "Movement of Conscious Objectors," contacted HSE's Second Department of Administration, which handles cases of students who have been drafted. According to Klyga, the head of the office, Vladimir Krotov, denied that students were being offered a special contract. Therefore, if enlisted, students might be required to stay at the front until the end of the war.

According to Klyga, the promise that students will serve exclusively in a drone unit of the military is a lie. He claimed that students would be sent to assault units. The activist posted on his Telegram, "And in that case, HSE will not help you anymore. The state will always deceive you." 

HSE is not the first university to pressure its students into joining the Russian armed forces. Students at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology reported being pressured into signing military contracts to operate drones in Ukraine. 

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