Director of the Institute of Asian and African Countries (ISAA) of Moscow State University Alexei Maslov called the words of associate professor of the institute Boris Volkhonsky, who insulted the journalist of the Dozhd TV channel Valeria Ratnikova, frankly rude. The journalist spoke about this in her Telegram channel.

According to Ratnikova, Maslov himself wrote to her, attaching an official commentary from the directorate of the institute. The text says that there is no justification for outright rudeness, "no matter to whom it is shown."

“Russian oriental studies have always been distinguished by deep intelligence, understanding of the diversity of opinions and cultures. Of course, our employees themselves decide to whom and in what context to give or not to give interviews. However, even a refusal must carry a polite and meaningful explanation. The vast majority of the Institute's employees are guided by just such principles.

He promised that the leadership would pay attention to Volkhonsky's statement. Maslov emphasized that the associate professor "participated in the correspondence as a private individual, without affiliation with the institute."

Earlier, Ratnikova said that Volkhonsky insulted her. She published a correspondence in which Volkhonsky asks for a comment, in response to which he writes "Forget my phone." After Ratnikova wrote "OK", Volkhonsky began to insult the journalist. After that, ISAA graduates stood up for her, they released a statement in which they criticized the associate professor.

Volkhonsky has been an Associate Professor at the Department of Indian Philology at ISAA since 2017. He is also a member of the Kremlin's Valdai Discussion Club and regularly comments on pro-Russian media. After the start of the war in Ukraine, Volkhonsky put a picture with the letter Z on his Facebook profile picture. He commented on the closing of the Rain channel with the poem “Rain” dripped and passed - // The sun in the whole world. // This is very good // For both adults and children.”