According to LRT, Andrey Desnitsky is a Russian scholar who currently teaches Russian literature to students at Vilnius University (VU). The outlet noted that before the annexation of Crimea he held the view that the peninsula should go to Russia, and he does not deny that he promoted the idea of holding a referendum in Crimea on seceding from Ukraine and joining Russia.
Desnitsky himself told LRT Radio: “I left Russia because I don't want to be part of Putin's aggression, because I am categorically against the war.” He also claimed that he never considered the secession of Crimea just and announced this on 13 March 2014.
“I said that it is theoretically possible for one country to cede territory to another, and when the Crimean question was being discussed, I said that it was theoretically possible, I said that a situation was possible where one country cedes territory to another through a referendum, and such cases have existed in history, and that this is recognized by international law. Of course, I never considered this step just, and I announced this on 13 March 2014,” Desnitsky said.
According to LRT, two years after the annexation Desnitsky received the title of professor in Russia, and two years after that he was awarded the Liberal Mission prize in Russia. He himself claims that he has not visited the Crimean peninsula since the annexation, but his wife has. Desnitsky's son, Sergei Desnitsky, wrote in 2019: “When Crimea became ours, we flew there and back.”
Accusations by a Ukrainian publisher
Yevhen Yevramchuk, a former publisher from Ukraine who was injured during the Maidan, claims that the current VU lecturer was at one point a convenient tool for Putin to spread his ideas about Crimea belonging to Russia. “I'll tell you straight: I consider him one of the instigators of the war. His views and propaganda, as well as the views and propaganda of people like him, led to the annexation of Crimea. He justified it, he wanted it, he preached it, he spread his ideas everywhere — orally, in writing, on social media, in popular magazines. And he did everything possible to make it happen,” Yevramchuk said in an interview with LRT Radio.
Yevramchuk also claims that long before the annexation of Crimea he warned his then-friend Desnitsky against spreading such propaganda, since it would lead to war. According to him, Desnitsky then accused him of threatening to kill him and his son. Yevramchuk added: “What's the point now of saying you're against the war if you yourself started it. It's like setting fire to a gas station and saying: ‘I didn't think it would turn out like this’.”
The university's position
Ineta Šerkšnienė, a professor at Vilnius University and dean of the Faculty of Philology, told LRT Radio that Desnitsky had stated he was against the war before working at the university, and that the university was not interested in the ideas he spread. “When we received (a letter — LRT.lt) from students, we checked the latest available information. I didn't see anything there that would indicate he supports any other position,” Šerkšnienė said.
According to her, the university's historians recommended hiring the Russian researcher. Loreta Skrividaitė, dean of the Faculty of History, said they are currently looking for ways to employ Desnitsky. “An application was submitted, there were certain recommendations that were reliable, and a job was found for this person. That's all I can say,” she said.
University rector R. Balčiūnaitis insists that the hiring case must be reviewed again. “The participation of members of the university community in Russian propaganda activities is unacceptable. There are definitely no questions here. However, this situation without context must be thoroughly investigated, and if there are doubts, these questions must be answered. We will examine all the information provided separately. From your words it sounds, to put it mildly, strange, but it is probably necessary to obtain precise figures from the person and assess everything as a whole,” Balčiūnaitis noted.
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