Sofia Ivanova until recently was a successful teacher of social studies at the No. 4 high school in the city of Ryazan. In her free time she also worked as a coordinator for the local branch of the Golos NGO that monitors elections, and she had been involved in the work of the local Memorial organization. She had also taken part in demonstrations about the events in Ukraine and against electoral fraud in Russia. After the headteacher at the school received a complaint from another teacher about Sofia Ivanova’s political views last December, Sofia Ivanova was asked to write a letter of resignation. She complied. For more information see the interview with Sofia Ivanova cited below.


Source:’ Lessons under a portrait of Stalin: High school teacher Sofia Ivanova tells why she was fired,’ HRO.org, 18 January 2016 [for the original Russian language source, see: Radio Svoboda]