Russian scientist responded to the cancellation of lectures in Georgia with words about the weekend

Russian paleoanthropologist Stanislav Drobyshevsky told RBC that he did not know about the cancellation of his lectures in Georgia.

“I don't know what was canceled. Thank goodness I have a day off. Apparently, someone really cuts their eyes. Democracy and freedom of speech in the European way. They were so excited that they came. Now let them sit inflated, without lectures. Or they come to us [to Russia], I give lectures to everyone, we and other lecturers have a lot, he said.

Tbilisi book bar Auditoria announced on Instagram (owned by Meta, a recognized extremist organization and banned in Russia) the cancellation of Drobyshevsky’s planned performances in the country.

The organizers attributed the decision to public statements about the history of Georgia and Tbilisi, which they called “superficial and disrespectful to the history and culture of Georgia.”.

Auditoria said that it offered the representative of the scientist to organize an interview with the Russian-language media in Georgia, so that he could comment on statements “that are not related to the subject of the planned scientific lectures”, but it has not yet been possible to conduct it. The organizers stressed that they do not intend to “turn scientists and popular intellectuals into unconditional authorities”, oppose the persecution of a person because of public statements and do not call for a boycott of Drobyshevsky.

“This is our independent decision, made out of respect for the country in which we live and work, and taking into account our responsibility to our audience,” the statement said.

Stanislav Drobyshevsky – Candidate of Biological Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Anthropology of the Biological Faculty of Lomonosov Moscow State University, is indicated on the faculty website. His research interests are related to anthropogenesis, hominoid systematics, paleoneurology and the influence of environmental factors on the evolution of human ancestors.