Editor of liberal Russia media reinstated after sexual harassment claim

A Russian news editor was reinstated as editor in chief of one of the country’s top liberal media outlets on Monday after he resigned over a sexual harassment scandal.

The resignation of Meduza chief editor Ivan Kolpakov last November was highly unusual in Russia, where the Western #MeToo movement has largely failed to take off and rampant sexual harassment is often seen as a joke rather than a problem.

“I have taken a decision to reinstate Kolpakov to the position of chief editor,” Meduza founder and general director Galina Timchenko said in a statement.

“I do not know of another professional who would be able to better deal with new tasks and challenges.”

Controversy erupted when Kolpakov was accused of groping an employee’s wife at a party in October.

A heavily inebriated Kolpakov pinched the woman’s bottom, saying: “You are the only one at this party who I can harass and nothing would happen to me for that,” Meduza said at the time.

He was suspended for two weeks but was reinstated by the board of directors, which said it was a one-off incident.

Kolpakov quit after his reinstatement sparked further controversy. He refused to accept the charges of harassment.

Timchenko said all department heads and members of a new board of directors supported the return of Kolpakov, 35, promising the news outlet would learn from the controversy.

“I am sure we will be able to avoid a repeat of such incidents,” she said. “We are probably learning slower than one would want but we can learn from our mistakes.”

There is no legislation that protects women against sexual harassment at work or home in Russia.

The independent news website Meduza, which is based in EU member Latvia to circumvent censorship, frequently writes about gender-based violence and harassment.

The only senior Russian official to be publicly accused of harassment, MP Leonid Slutsky, dismissed allegations last year that he groped journalists and made lewd comments.

A parliamentary ethics panel later cleared his name and Slutsky claimed the scandal had actually “boosted my gravitas”.

The controversy over Meduza has divided its readers, with some liberal Muscovites and foreign journalists saying Meduza had discredited itself by refusing to sack its editor-in-chief immediately after the incident.