Russian Engineering University Expels Turkish Students and Moscow Won't Employ Turks for Luzhniki Re

Russian Engineering University Expels Turkish Students

By Anna Dolgov
Dec. 11 2015 16:06
Last edited 16:07

Ekaterina Kuzmina / Vedomosti

An engineering university in Russia has expelled a number of its Turkish students, independent Meduza news portal reported Thursday, amid the growing rift between Moscow and Ankara over the downing of a warplane on the Turkish-Syrian border.

Before the expulsion, police and Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) searched the dorm rooms of Turkish students at Obninsk Institute for Nuclear Power Engineering — a branch of Moscow-based National Research Nuclear University, or MEPhI — looking for drugs and accusing the students of sympathizing with “terrorists,” an activist from an association of Turkish students in Russia, Okan Yildiz, was quoted as saying.

Turkish nationals in Russia have become targets of a major backlash after Turkey shot down the Russian Su-24 on Nov. 24. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the downing a “stab in the back by accomplices of terrorism.”

But the association of Turkish students has been receiving reports of their compatriots being expelled from universities in the Russian cities of Voronezh and Saratov, in addition to the one in Obninsk, Yildiz said, Meduza reported.

After initially denying reports of expulsions of its Turkish students, Voronezh Institute of High Technologies this week confirmed it was about to dismiss 14 students, including seven from Turkey, RIA Voronezh news portal has reported.

A spokesperson for the institute told Dozhd television that its Turkish students had been expelled for “academic and financial arrears,” Meduza reported

As relations between Moscow and Ankara have been turning increasingly sour, Russia's Education and Science Ministry said all Russian exchange students in Turkey were to return home immediately. But it vowed that Turkish students in Russia would face no reprisals and urged universities to ensure their safety.

Turkey says Russia's Su-24 bomber strayed into its airspace on Nov. 24 and ignored requests to leave, but Moscow denies this and says the shooting was illegal.
The Moscow Times

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Moscow Won't Employ Turks for Luzhniki Reconstruction

The Moscow Times
Dec. 10 2015 20:04
Last edited 20:04

Maxim Shemetov / ReutersA construction worker rests inside the Luzhniki stadium under construction in Moscow.

Moscow authorities have said they won't be using the services of Turkish citizens in the reconstruction of the capital's Luzhniki stadium following a decree to curb Turkish staff in revenge for the downing of a Russian jet.

Head of the capital's construction department Andrei Bochkarev told the Moskva city news agency on Thursday that a Turkish contractor had been involved in reconstruction work on the stadium but that their services would no longer be needed.

“They have completed their work, and in accordance with the law, in accordance with the decree by [President Vladimir Putin] we will try to complete the remaining work without the participation of Turkish companies,” he was cited as saying in the report.

Bochkarev said he had no complaints about Monart, the Turkish contractor, adding they had done “great work” but that “there was the question of realizing the order of the Russian president.”

The decree signed by Putin late last month approved a range of economic retaliatory measures against Turkey, including an import ban on a range of goods and restrictions on the employment of Turkish staff.

The measures were announced after Turkey downed a Russian Su-24 jet on the border with Syria, claiming it had violated its airspace. Russia denied the accusation and called the strike a “stab in the back.”

According to a tender published online this summer, up to 2.2 billion rubles ($39 million) have been set aside for the thorough revamp of the Luzhniki Olympic Complex ahead of Russia's hosting of the World Cup in 2018.

The Moscow Times