Professor Alleges Retaliation for Lecture on Ukraine

A Russian studies scholar at Kazakhstan’s Nazarbayev University says he is being wrongly dismissed due to the administration’s unhappiness with an August 2014 lecture he was scheduled to give on Ukrainian-Russian relations, Eurasianet.org reported. The planned lecture by Professor Marcel de Haas, a professor of public policy and a retired officer in the Dutch army, was reportedly canceled after the intervention of a Russian diplomat who protested that the talk would “introduce falsehoods into the minds of students.” Nazarbayev University, which has ties with many elite international universities, did not respond to inquiries from Eurasianet.org about de Haas’s allegations.