Andrei Zubov, a former professor at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, or MGIMO, who was fired Monday for his criticisms of Russia's actions in Ukraine, has taken his case to court.
Zubov will challenge the wording of his dismissal, which characterized his firing as a response to the "immoral conduct of an employee of a pedagogical institution," the professor told RIA Novosti on Tuesday.
He said that this type of dismissal will bar him from finding work at another institution, adding that the documents for the case have already been prepared.
On Monday the administration of MGIMO announced that it had terminated Zubov's employment for repeated violations of the university's code of conduct and criticizing the official positions of the Russian Foreign Ministry, which the university is affiliated with.
Earlier this month Zubov had said he was fired for writing an op-ed in the newspaper Vedomosti in which he compared Russia's annexation of Crimea to Nazi Germany's Anschluss in Austria. The day after news of the firing broke, MGIMO rector Anatoly Torkunov denied the dismissal.
School administrators said Monday that Zubov's statements were "causing outrage" and proving detrimental to the institution's learning environment.
After the news of his firing earlier this month, Zubov was reportedly offered a position at Kiev's Taras Shevchenko National University.
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