The exam period at Russian universities is traditionally a hot time for anti-corruption fighters. The rector of the Kaliningrad Immanuel Kant University was recently arrested Alexandra Fedorova. Life.ru has collected details of similar stories.
There is a concept in forensics: a bribe is the fastest way to treason. Maybe that is why bribery cases at universities have finally been given the green light? Or is this a seasonal story? Life.ru examines the scandals of the most famous universities in recent months.
Scandal at Kaliningrad University named after Kant for 18 million rubles
In July, the rector of the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University was arrested Alexander FedorovAccording to Kaliningrad media, he and his deputy Elena Myalkina accused of accepting a bribe.
According to the investigation, Fyodorov and his deputy wrote out bonuses to the university employees from 2022 to June 2024, which they kept for themselves. According to the investigation, they managed to steal more than 18 million from the treasury.
Taking into account the development of the Kaliningrad university, which planned to build a new campus “Kantiana” with a budget of more than 16 billion rubles, the security forces could subject the institution's management to a total audit, and then reveal violations.
How can terrorists and the A.S. Pushkin Institute be connected?
While investigating the terrorist attack in Crocus, where 145 people died on March 22, security forces tracked down companies that were involved in the legalization of migrants, helping them successfully pass Russian language tests and obtain certificates. Employees of the Pushkin State Institute of the Russian Language also came under suspicion. The Cheremushkinsky Court of Moscow placed a former employee of the university under house arrest Marina BalburovaAccording to preliminary data, almost 500 citizens of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan received certificates through this scheme, certifying successful passing of the Russian language exam.
After this, the university rector was dismissed. Natalia Trukhanovskayafamous for its special “approaches” to the education system. For example, in 2022, it proposed teaching Russian as a foreign language in the national republics of Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism). At that time, the idea was considered a provocation that could lead to only one thing – an internal split in the country.
What is VSU rector Dmitry Endovitsky suspected of?
In mid-June, the rector of Voronezh State University was detained Dmitry Endovitskywho, according to investigators, paid a bribe of 1.5 million rubles for his wife Elena's dissertation. SHOT Telegram channel notesthat in 2022 the rector's wife defended her dissertation on the topic “Managing the life cycle of personnel controlling in the interests of innovative development of corporate economic systems.” But she could not do it. She did not answer the commission's questions and did not receive an academic degree.
Later, VSU rector Dmitry Yendovitsky was accused of bribery had tried appeal the arrest. But the court sent him to a pretrial detention center until August 14 inclusive. Another defendant in the case is a 75-year-old professor, head of the Department of Economics and Management of Organizations at the Faculty of Economics of VSU Yuri Treshchevskywho is suspected of acting as an intermediary, was also placed under house arrest for two months.
How students and teachers traded exams at a medical university
A loud scandal also broke out at the Russian University of Medicine of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country). On June 20, it became known that investigators of the Investigative Committee detained students and teachers who collected money for passing exams. As a result, two criminal cases on bribery were opened. According to media reports, the university came under FSB investigation after receiving information about the critically low education of graduates. The investigation is not disclosing the details of the accused.
Why was the ex-associate professor of the Kutafin Moscow State Law Academy arrested?
Eight days later, a former teacher of the Moscow State Law Academy named after O.E. Kutafin (MSAL), former associate professor, and candidate of legal sciences, wanted for bribery, was arrested at Domodedovo Airport Oksana Viktorovna Belyakovskaya. At the university, she taught administrative proceedings, labor law, and professional ethics. Two criminal cases have been opened against her under articles on bribery and mediation in bribery. She could face up to 15 years in prison.
Oksana Belyakovskaya's profile is still present on the Moscow State Law University website in the “Teachers” section.According to one version, in 2022, Belyakovskaya was initially involved in the case of a certain Evgrafova T.B. (Article 291.1 of the Criminal Code “Mediation in bribery”), and then the case against her was separated into a separate proceeding under the same article. In 2023, Belyakovskaya left the country. She was put on the federal wanted list, and then on the international wanted list.
What sentence did the Moscow State University professor who fled to Nicaragua receive?
Another case that has made headlines across the country: a Saratov court convicted an MSU professor of bribery in July Mikhail Gorbachevwho was extradited from Nicaragua in May, where he was hiding from the law, using the cover of a business trip to a Moscow university. The prosecutor requested nine years in a maximum security penal colony. However, in the end, the 37-year-old former teacher received 4.5 years of imprisonment in a general regime penal colony, as well as a fine of 500 thousand rubles.
Let us recall that from 2013 to 2018, Mikhail Gorbachev worked at the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education “Saratov State Law Academy” (SSLA).
According to the investigation, he received a bribe of more than 180 thousand rubles from a student of this educational institution, and in return promised her high scores in a number of subjects. In 2021, he did not appear at a court hearing, left the country, and was put on the wanted list.
Convicted Moscow State University professor Mikhail GorbachevGorbachev was found guilty under Part 3 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country), as well as Part 3 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country), which means bribery and fraudulent actions using official position. The case was initiated in 2022 by Moscow State University graduate Timofey Savvin, who filed a complaint against the professor, who was wanted and hiding on a business trip to Nicaragua. At the same time, the Moscow university did not publish any serious research or works on the political life of this country.
Moscow State University to demand 800 thousand rubles in court for non-payment of wages
Earlier, a scandal erupted at Moscow State University, when visiting lecturers of the unique master's program “Information and Hybrid Warfare” reported violations of their rights by the dean's office, including extremely low wages, which did not exceed 4,000-7,000 rubles per month, and non-payments.
According to Life.ru, one of the striking teachers of the course from the team of the founder of the Moscow State University program “Information and Hybrid Wars”, Doctor of Political Science, Professor Andrey Manoylo filed the first lawsuit demanding payment of wages for hours worked. The amount of the claim is 800 thousand rubles, other teachers are also preparing to sue MSU.
Cleaning of Universities, or Seasonal Work of Security Forces
Experts say that work to combat corruption in universities is carried out regularly, but due to the notorious “stick” system of official reporting, it is difficult to expect a breakthrough from the security forces. For example, if in some district, for example, 50 corrupt officials were detained in a year, then next year it will be necessary to detain 50 + 1. If the number is lower, the management will conclude that the fight against corrupt officials in the area has weakened, and if the numbers are higher, they will again get into trouble from the authorities for the fact that corruption in the area has increased, and, therefore, the fight is not being conducted again. Therefore, the security forces solve the same number of crimes as in the previous period, adding one more to the statistics.
According to the expert, in the so-called production food chain — housing and communal services, medicine and universities — this link is considered the easiest in terms of solving crimes, because people who work in this area rarely understand how law enforcement officers operate. It is easier to detect crimes there in comparison, for example, with bribery in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. And for corruption statistics, it does not matter where it is detected.
Here we should not discount the seasonality factor – the time when cunning teachers earn hundreds of thousands of rubles by selling exam grades.
Today, a teacher can earn money legally, and a student is quite capable of learning everything. Extortion by a teacher can be easily documented and his dismissal achieved, the expert reminds.
