Prominent Kremlin critic and trade union activist Mikhail Lobanov took to Telegram on Monday to announce that he had fled Russia, just hours after revealing that he was fired from a leading Moscow university.

In a text message to The Moscow Times, Lobanov explained that his team had taken the decision for him to go on a long-term trip abroad, to a place “where Russian security forces cannot break in”. The activist said that, while he had previously said he wanted to stay in Russia as long as possible to continue his creative political activity, the opportunity to do so had been “temporarily exhausted”.

I am forcing myself to notice good things in Russia. The Moscow State University, my alma mater, fired Mikhail Lobanov, an opposition activist, a politician, and an associate professor at the Math Department. So what's good? The Math Department, where I got my PhD, didn't fire… pic.twitter.com/sJHbPGRUeg

— Konstantin Sonin (@k_sonin) July 10, 2023

Lobanov had posted a photo of the order dismissing him from his associate professor position at Moscow State University's Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics, with the official explanation given as “reasons beyond the control of both parties”.

The prominent left-wing politician had run as a candidate for the Communist Party in Russia's 2021 parliamentary elections, and had been labelled a “foreign agent” by the Justice Ministry last month.

He believes the university's decision to fire him was the result of “flagrant and unprecedented pressure from outside”, and that the authorities were waging a campaign against him for the past year. The activist feared that the next step would be a fictional criminal case, which is why he decided to leave Russia.

The door of Mikhail Lobanov, an opposition activist and lecturer at Moscow University, was painted with the Z while he was on holiday.
He has participated in actions for students' rights and against falsifications, and now the Z-patriots decided to mark on his door/intimidate him pic.twitter.com/kuEoz0LBn4

— "Liberty of Russia" Legion (@legion_svoboda) February 10, 2023

Despite being forced to flee his home country, Lobanov is determined to continue his activist work outside of Russia. He hopes to “work with progressive political forces in other countries in order to form a set of proposals and guarantees” for ending the war in Ukraine.

Lobanov was previously detained in May during mass raids related to Ilya Ponomaryov — a pro-Ukraine former State Duma lawmaker accused of spreading “fake news” about the invasion of Ukraine — however, he was later released after being questioned as a witness. The Kremlin critic is committed to continuing his activism from abroad while his return to Russia appears to be uncertain.