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Russian Professor Fired After Complaining to Prime Minister About Low Pay

Viktor Makarenko Taganrog Metallurgical College

A Russian professor with a tenure of 40 years has been dismissed after complaining of low wages to the prime minister.

Viktor Makarenko asked Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev this week to explain why the wages of local education officials have not been adjusted for inflation since 2012.

“In order to at least reach the poverty level, teachers’ salaries need to increase by 40 percent,” professor Makarenko wrote in a letter carried by the Krasnaya Vesna news agency this week.

The director of the Taganrog Metallurgical College dismissed Makarenko soon after the letter’s publication, the agency cited a source as saying on Thursday.

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