July 28, 2000

In Russia, Students Say They Were Expelled for Political Activity

By BRYON MacWILLIAMS

Classes were winding down for the fourth-year student majoring in rocket propulsion at Baltic State Technical University. He was tense as he awaited final exams, and worn out from volunteering daily for the failed election campaign of a liberal political party, Yabloko, in St. Petersburg.

Then he was reportedly called into administrative offices of the university, better known as Voenmekh, where he was greeted by two older men who identified themselves by their job titles: agents of