Students protested in Lviv, Western Ukraine on Tuesday, after a professor and former MP claimed that Russian speaking frontline soldiers cannot be considered ‘true Ukrainians.’ The students demanded that Irina Farion resign from her position at the Lviv Polytechnic National University.
Farion, a philologist, previously represented the Svoboda (Freedom) party, which is regarded as anti-Semitic and fascist by the Ukrainian Jewish Committee. In 2004, its founder Oleg Tyagnibok claimed that a “Muscovite-Jewish mafia” controlled Ukraine. A year later, he blasted what he called the “criminal activities of organized Jewry in Ukraine.”
The students who showed up at the main university building carried banners declaring ‘Farion is an embarrassment to Ukraine’ and ‘Farion must go!’, footage from the scene shows.
The protesters demanded the professor be dismissed from the university over multiple scandals she has been embroiled in. A group of students met with the university’s administration to address the situation, but it was not immediately clear how the meeting ended.
Farion, known for her hardline nationalist views and bitter resentment toward use of the Russian language in the country, sparked several high-profile scandals, starting with explosive remarks she made during a TV show aired last week.
The ex-MP delved into the language issue, criticizing Russian-speaking members of the notorious neo-Nazi Azov regiment. The Russian-speaking fighters cannot be deemed “true Ukrainians” regardless of their achievements on the battlefield, while their inability or unwillingness to learn the “state language” shows their lack of “discipline,” which turns the military into “rabble,” Farion argued.
The remarks angered the Ukrainian military and public figures alike. Maksim Zhorin, a former Azov commander and deputy commander of the 3rd Assault Brigade, composed largely of ex-fighters of the regiment, told Farion to “go f*ck herself,” urging law enforcement to probe the activities of “that c*nt.” Farion only creates divisions in Ukrainian society by making hateful comments, Zhorin said.
Ukrainian boxer and politician Aleksandr Usik, meanwhile, accused Farion of being a “Kremlin agent” for sowing discord in the country.
The ex-MP, however, stood by her remarks, attacking her critics on social media. Among other things, she branded all Russian speakers “garbage” and servants of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, who will “inevitably” get cleansed out of Ukraine. The incendiary rhetoric got her banned on Facebook, but she has continued to post on Instagram.
Moscow has repeatedly condemned Ukrainian laws that restrict the use of the Russian language and policies aimed at eroding cultural and historical ties with the neighboring state. Putin cited “the de-Russification and forced assimilation” of Russian speakers – more than a third of Ukraine’s population – as among the causes of the conflict between the two countries.
Farion drew additional criticism after she posted a screenshot of a message of support sent by a first-year college student from Russia’s Crimea, but failed to edit out the man’s personal data, according to Ukrainian media. She later doubled down, dismissing the calls to hide the student’s identity.
The man, identified as Maksim Glebov, was then reportedly detained by police. In a video posted to social media on Monday, Glebov admitted to authoring the message sent to Farion. “After having a polite discussion [with police], I am fully denouncing my views because I understand that I was wrong,” the young man said in the video.