Unwelcome Guests

According to the Telegram channel Lupa, on June 2, students at BelSU and BSTU, two universities in Belgorod, are being evicted from their dormitories in order to make space for 700 refugees from the Russian town of Shebekino, which is near the front lines of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and is being shelled.

BSTU students told Vot Tak that they were evicted from their dorm rooms with no notice (informed only at around 8-9 pm), found that they were being moved overnight to dorms that were of inferior quality, and in fact some were not provided with replacement housing. The students also reported that refugees are openly drinking on the grounds of the boarding school.

“It would have been possible to settle the refugees in [the old dorms], and not move the children," one student interviewed said. "But, for the sake of reporting and all that, they settled in a new good [dormitory], for which the excellent students had fought, and now it is being ruined [by refugees] and their drinking there."

That particular student said her housing situation was unclear: “In fact, I am now homeless,” she said.

“There, on the ground, the guys probably came [and] were informed [about the eviction]," the student continued. "All the other [students] found out via the internet and were shocked, as many had gone home for the weekend or were away. It’s difficult for everyone to come back and pack up their things in one night. The children were moved from the comfortable places they deserved for the sake of a pretty picture.”

The student also said that some students' belongings, which had been stored in the dormitories, were packed in garbage bags and moved to lockers, without any inventory of what was removed.