Academic Circle (Академічний кружок or Академический кружок; Akademicheskii kruzhok). A Russophile student society in Lviv founded in 1870. In 1876 it merged with the Galician populist circle Druzhnyi Lykhvar, but a year later reverted to a Russophile orientation. Among its leading members were Ivan Franko, Mykhailo Pavlyk, Ivan Belei, and Ostap Terletsky. The society had a large library and published its organ Druh (1874–7).

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]