The situation at a glance: Selenskyj: Investigations into murder of politician underway

After the fatal shooting of ultranationalist politician Iryna Farion in western Ukraine, the leadership in Kiev has not ruled out a Russian lead. “All versions are being investigated, including the one that leads to Russia,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Farion, who also had problems with the Ukrainian judiciary because of her anti-Russian statements, was shot in the head in front of her home in Lviv on Friday evening. According to the authorities, the 60-year-old died a short time later in hospital. There was initially no information about the possible perpetrator.

The recordings from all available surveillance cameras are being evaluated, witnesses are being questioned and several parts of the city are being searched, said Zelensky. Forces from the national police and secret services are being deployed to track down the perpetrator. Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, who also did not rule out a Russian lead, the heads of the police and secret services and representatives of the Prosecutor General’s Office are in Lviv to monitor the investigation. Zelensky expressed his condolences to the relatives of Farion, who was also a member of parliament for the right-wing nationalist Svoboda party in the Verkhovna Rada in Kiev for a time.

Farion fought against Russian language in Ukraine

The philologist Farion had fought against the Russian language, which is widespread in Ukraine, with radical statements. Her party Svoboda therefore suspects a Russian trace in the murder case. Interior Minister Klymenko sees a connection between the assassination attempt and Farion’s social activities. “The basic versions that are currently being considered are personal hostility, social and political activities of Ms. Farion. We do not rule out that this is a contract killing,” the minister wrote on Telegram.

Possible Russian trace and satisfaction in Moscow

Farion also had trouble with the Ukrainian judiciary because of statements directed against the Russian-speaking population. For example, she temporarily lost her job at the university where she taught Ukrainian after protests by students. Among other things, the professor had sharply criticized the fact that many Ukrainian soldiers on the front line continued to speak their native language, Russian. She says she even bought drones herself to fight against the Russian war of aggression.

Farion was often criticized for having divided Ukrainian society. Russian state propaganda, however, welcomed the news of the politician’s death. “Iryna Farion, who dreamed of the ‘complete elimination’ of the Russian-speaking population, has been eliminated. God will sort things out there without us,” wrote Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the Russian state television channel RT.

Civil rights activists see Russian universities under pressure

Meanwhile, the Moscow leadership continues to stifle any possible source of criticism because of the war in Ukraine. According to civil rights activists, this also applies to universities. They believe that universities and colleges are under greater political pressure due to the repression in Russia.

The Molnija organization, which campaigns for student rights, has recorded significantly more cases of forced expulsions since the war began in 2022. Students are being removed from universities for criticizing the war or for other political motives. A study on university freedom in Russia lists several cases in 2023 in which lecturers were also dismissed or punished for political reasons. However, there are no exact figures on the development of university expulsions for political reasons.

According to official figures, around 4.3 million students study at around 1,000 universities and colleges in Russia. Colleges are one of the most sensitive areas of society, said journalist Vera Ryklina from the media project “Strana i mir” at an event organized by the German Sakharov Society. Russia is preparing for a long-lasting conflict with the West. University policy shows what kind of society the Russian state under Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin is striving for.

Militarized studies and reprimands for participating in demonstrations

This picture includes militarization and ideological indoctrination, explained the exiled Russian sociologist Dmitri Dubrowski, an author of the study on university freedom for the Cisrus research center in the USA. Military training has returned, and subjects such as “Fundamentals of Russian Statehood” or “Religions of Russia” are being introduced for patriotic education. Intelligence officers are moving into university administrations. Students or lecturers loyal to the party line are combing through the accounts of their fellow students or colleagues on social networks for dissenting opinions, said Dubrowski.

Students are often expelled from university if they take part in unauthorized demonstrations, reports the organization Molnija. The reason given for this is a violation of the university’s code of conduct. Students who are socially or union-active or who work as journalists are particularly at risk. Demonstrations are still banned in Russia with reference to protection against corona.

Molnija explains that in the years before the war, only a handful of cases of expulsions from universities for political reasons were known. In the war years of 2022 and 2023, there were several dozen. Students who were expelled are largely unprotected, said a lawyer from Molnija anonymously to the Sakharov Society. They have no work, state authorities refuse to contact them, and they face conscription. Thousands of critical students and lecturers have fled abroad because of the war.