A Ukrainian student attending Moscow State University detained three times by Russian authorities will be expelled from Russia, the Russian independent outlet news MediaZona reported on May 8.
Serhii Hulko is currently being held in a detention center in Sakharovo just outside Moscow and will be sent to a third country – possibly Georgia – though the date of the expulsion is not yet known, his girlfriend Yana told MediaZona.
According to the outlet, Hulko was first arrested on April 3 and detained for 10 days. After his release, he was detained again for writing "Glory to Ukraine!" on social media.
The student was supposed to be released on April 25 but was once again detained for a further 12 days for posts he made on Instagram in which he was alleged to have called for the bombing of Moscow.
Hulko told the court he had written these posts two years ago in a highly emotional state at the outset of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Yana said Hulko had been reported to authorities by a classmate who had saved screenshots of the posts for over two years and was using them now to make sure he could not graduate from the university despite studying there for several years.
Rachel Amran
(Updated: )
