the only way I can make sense of this (and I'm probably wrong maybe some Italians can help me) is that Italy is extremely divided in their politics (see Salvini[1]) ... and so the university overcompensated by trying to "stick it to Putin" while being totally ignorant about Russian literature. It's a long shot but it's all I've got. :/

[1] https://twitter.com/paologerbaudo/status/1501200808976728079