Residents of a dormitory in Nalchik were dissatisfied with the university's response to their complaints.
Former employees of the agricultural university, fearing eviction from their company housing in Nalchik, considered the university's response to their complaints to be a formality. They proposed creating a commission to jointly assess the legality of each eviction case.
As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," on February 24, the Kabardino-Balkarian State Agrarian University (KBSAU) released a response to complaints from dormitory residents in Nalchik, signed by trade union chair Yulia Kumysheva. According to the response, the university's management is not forcing the former employees to vacate the dormitory, but is merely clarifying the grounds for their residence there. The information about "access to city infrastructure being closed due to the wicket and gate being blocked" is untrue, as there is a checkpoint no more than 100 meters away, and the university grounds are fenced in accordance with anti-terrorism legislation, the university explained.
On February 21, residents of the KBGAU dormitory complained to the republic and Russian authorities about eviction demands. They stated that they maintain the building themselves and carried out major repairs themselves, but received notices to vacate the premises, and meetings with the rector yielded no results.
Residents of the KBSU dormitory stated that the university's trade union's response to their appeal "was reduced to bureaucratic wording," the newspaper "Gazeta Yuga" reported on the evening of March 2.
We are not numbers in a report. Among us are elderly people and people with disabilities.
"The university writes that 'the distance is no more than 100 meters' and 'direct access to city infrastructure is provided.' We are not numbers in a report. Among us are elderly people, people with disabilities, mothers with strollers and small children. Previously, we exited through the gate directly to the bus stop, shops, and the clinic. Now we are forced to go through a checkpoint with turnstiles. For an elderly person with a heart condition or a mother with a baby, these '100 meters' of obstacles are a daily ordeal," the publication quoted the residents' appeal.
The residents also criticized the university's claim that eviction notices are notification-only. "Why send out such documents if there's no intention of eviction? We're not children; we can't be reassured by the words 'it's just information,'" they said.
The assertion that the notices are needed to "establish the legal basis for residence" also drew criticism from former university employees. "Our legal basis is the occupancy orders issued by the state and the university in the 1980s and 1990s. The fact of residence for more than 25-30 years, which no one has disputed, is our basis. Article 13 of Federal Law No. 189-F3 "On the Implementation of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation" clearly states: citizens living in dormitories at the time of the RF Housing Code's introduction (2005) and registered as needing housing cannot be evicted without being provided with alternative housing. Many of us are on the list," they stated.
According to the Housing Code, individuals who have no other housing and are registered as needing housing cannot be evicted from official housing without being provided with alternative housing, lawyer Oleg Sergeev told the "Caucasian Knot" in June 2025. He also stated that families of military personnel, security forces personnel, pensioners, disabled persons, and people who were provided dormitory housing before March 1, 2005—before the Housing Code came into effect—who are registered as needing housing cannot be evicted without being provided with alternative housing.
We demand that the management of KBGAU and the authorities of Kabardino-Balkaria comply with the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the Housing Code.
The authors of the appeal called for "the immediate revocation of eviction notices for privileged categories (pensioners, disabled persons, families with children, employees with more than 10 years of service)," the creation of a commission of university representatives and residents to investigate each case, and the restoration of "convenient gated entry for the elderly, disabled, and mothers with children." "We demand that the management of KBGAU and the authorities of Kabardino-Balkaria comply with the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the Housing Code," the residents' statement reads.
As a reminder, the dormitory is home to 47 families of former employees of the agricultural university who were laid off in 2017 without being offered alternative employment. They were on a waiting list for housing, but that list was eliminated.
Back in June 2025, university management notified the former employees, who had been living in the university dormitory since 1987, of their eviction without being offered alternative housing. Former university employees then stated that, on the orders of the new rector, the gate and access to the university grounds were closed "without any warning," and that during a personal meeting, the rector uttered "insults and threats to prevent us from complaining."
KBGAU Rector Zaurbi Shkhagapsoev then explained to the "Caucasian Knot" that he was forced to evict former employees from the dormitory because the students had nowhere to live. "They [the former employees] have already been living there for 30-40 years without any legal basis. Where am I supposed to house the students?" he said.
On February 22, 2026, the Investigative Committee reported opening a criminal case under the article on abuse of authority. The elimination of the housing waiting list, the blocking of the exit from the dormitory courtyard, and the university administration's ignoring of residents' requests "created unbearable living conditions," the department stated.