June 09, 2023

Fired for Fighting Ruscism


Fired for Fighting Ruscism
View from the Neva to the University embankment. The old building of St. Petersburg State University. Andrey Korzun, Wikimedia Commons.

St. Petersburg State University (SPbGU) fired Mikhail Belousov, an assistant professor at the Institute of History, for saying that “direct and open approval of ruscism is disgusting.” 

The university published its dismissal order on its website, saying Belousov propagated "materials discrediting the conduct of a special military operation by the armed forces of the Russian Federation, as well as materials insulting the memory of persons who died in the line of military duty."

Screenshots of the historian’s messages sparked conflict following news of the death of Fyodor Solomon, a student at SPbGU who fought in the war. Students and faculty organized commemorative events in Solomonov’s honor. Belousov implored faculty members to fight ruscism: “This is the ‘red line’: ‘sometimes it’s better to chew than to talk.’”

Many pro-Russian government Telegram channels, according to ASTRA, publicly condemned Belousov for his “shameful heresy,” saying that “he is far from alone” in his fight against ruscism, and that “many students of the university openly mocked the death of Fyodor Solomonov.” The channels had called for Belousov's removal.

Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education Konstantin Mogilevsky strongly criticized the situation arising from Belousov's anti-war statements, describing it as "deplorable and unacceptable."

“As a historian, I know that the faculty of history at St Petersburg State University is one of the best in our country," Mogilevsky said. "Professionals with a civil position work here, people who are not included in the small group that staged this provocation.” Mogilevsky said he believes that Belousov and his students "cannot boast of any serious achievements in their studies and scientific activities."

You Might Also Like

Renaming Russia?
  • March 15, 2023

Renaming Russia?

A Ukrainian petition calls for the renaming of Russia to Moscovia. 
A Ban on Russian
  • February 01, 2023

A Ban on Russian

Kyiv-Mohlya Academy has banned the Russian language inside the institution.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.
Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955