A new start is near – the University of Salzburg is now closing its Russia Center

The sign on the door in Sigmud-Haffner-Gasse has been pasted. The website and Facebook page of the Russia Center at the University of Salzburg can no longer be accessed: the center, which was established in 2015, more than four months after the start of the war in Ukraine, confirms Rector Hendrik Lehnert.

“That no longer exists,” says the university boss. As reported, Lehnert has put its collaboration with the co-funding Russkij Mir Foundation, which is close to Putin, on hold. The successor organization will be located in the Unipark at the Slavic Studies Department.

“Eastern Europe Forum”
“There is now the ‘Eastern Europe Forum’, where politics, culture, business, science and politics will be a topic,” said Lehnert. In other words, the new institution is not only concerned with Russia. Other countries and topics related to Eastern Europe are also central.

It is still unclear which offer the Eastern Europe Forum will offer for sale in the future, says the responsible professor Eva Hausbacher: “A lot will depend on whether there will be an additional position.” Whether that will be the case remains to be seen. – the university is already closed, applied for an additional position in Vienna.

The two employees of the Russia Center have not lost their jobs: until the end of the year, the university will take over their salaries, which were last paid by the Russians. Cost point: a good 40,000 euros. You have social responsibility, says Lehnert. “We’re now helping to find nodes.”