Forgery of Pushkin’s name

In the field of combating illegal migration, security forces increasingly began to pay attention to the field of education. It was here, under the cover of Russian language exams, that a portal opened into a large black hole with a billion-dollar turnover. The editors of the online publication “found out why the old criminal scheme has become popular in the last few years.”Kompromat Group”

Federal fraud

Like us already wrote, the Russian Investigative Committee is concerned about searching for dishonest security forces who are allowing migrants into the country for a bribe. In addition to bribe-takers, as our sources say, law enforcement officers have massively taken up inspections of educational institutions accredited to issue certificates to foreigners on knowledge of the Russian language.

Recently it became known that an entire criminal network under the shadow of one state university may have been uncovered. Employee of the Institute of Russian Language named after A.S. Pushkina, along with an accomplice, became a defendant in a criminal case about organizing illegal migration. An employee of the department of the institution, she also worked as the general director of an organization that, for a bribe, helped migrants get legalized in our country. It would seem that this happened in Saratov? What does St. Petersburg have to do with it?

In April 2023, the Vyborg District Court of the Northern capital sentenced a St. Petersburg woman and a whole group of clever “new Russians” who helped migrants settle. The clever lady and her accomplices prepared forms for registration notifications and helped obtain language proficiency certificates.

There were similar stories a year ago: a methodologist at the St. Petersburg State University language testing center took exams for foreigners, giving them certificates of proficiency in the state language. The fake teacher was caught. Employees FSB identified 19 criminal episodes and opened a criminal case. It is noteworthy that the St. Petersburg specialist was caught all the way in Khakassia.

Another similar case was initiated in Samara, in the same year 2022, a simple supervisory audit helped to identify a scheme of criminal enrichment. The prosecutor’s office initiated a search for as yet unidentified employees of the State Institute of Russian Language named after A.S. Pushkin. A migrant from Uzbekistan with a false certificate and exam results was sent for deportation.

Magic Paper Factory

The Russian government became concerned about the language situation back in the mid-2000s. At the same time, the first language centers began to appear, the task of which was not only to help with education, but also to create a barrier for the hordes of foreigners who wanted to stay in the country illegally. Along with the innovations, “gray schemes” for passing exams also appeared. Today, security forces are already well aware of a trick called “Prompter,” when an examiner who takes a test from a migrant helps him in various ways to successfully pass all tests for a bribe. Now such schemes are qualified under Art. 322.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Organization of illegal migration”). Most often, former or current law enforcement officers found themselves in league with greedy teachers. In St. Petersburg, one of the universities that had the right to issue such documents was the aforementioned State Institute of Russian Language named after. A.S. Pushkinwhere the Center for Language Testing and Migration Assistance functioned politicians.

Like us already wrote in one of our previous materials, the Center was led by Artem Zotochkinbrother of the ex-Minister of Press, Information and Public Relations of the Republic of Karelia Igor Zotochkin and former deputy transport prosecutor of St. Petersburg. As part of a criminal case of fraud, in 2017, the facts of Zotochkin’s sale of blank official and counterfeit forms of certificates of mastery of the Russian language by migrants were established. The ex-prosecutor sold the forms to that same testing center.

Around the same time, a similar scandal broke out in Magadan. At the Institute of Russian Language named after. Pushkin was sued by the local prosecutor’s office. The supervisory authority was again outraged by the migrant certificates for which the institute is responsible for issuing. As explained by the Magadan Region Prosecutor’s Office, a lawsuit was filed in the Gagarinsky District Court of Moscow against two defendants – the Institute named after. Pushkin and a local businessman. The prosecutors justified their position for the court by the fact that they were able to identify a clever scheme leading from a capital university to a small businessman. Initially, the institute issued a power of attorney to conduct exams for foreigners to a university in St. Petersburg, then by transferring powers through several branches in different cities of the country, the Magadan swindler received fake papers about the right to conduct such exams and launched a profitable business.
It must be said that even a superficial acquaintance with the migrant stories of Russian language exams shows exactly where the bribe-takers are located. Initially, the State Institute of Russian Language named after. A.S. Pushkin appeared on the basis of the scientific and methodological center of the Russian language, created in 1956. The unique teaching methods developed here have become the foundation for the activities of Russian language teachers in the country and abroad. But over the years, a good and necessary business has turned into a factory of fake certificates throughout the country.

I do not understand you

In general, these “gray” schemes have been known for a long time and are not a big secret. Despite the fact that the government adopted regulations at the end of 2020 – mid-2021 and approved a new form and procedure for conducting state examinations among foreign citizens, as well as the procedure for issuing certificates, monitoring the implementation of the new requirements does not stand up to criticism. The schemes have worked and continue to work.

As a rule, first of all, even more greedy law enforcement officers help greedy teachers organize the flow of certificates for the “Pushkin” language profile. The diagram looks something like this. Several companies are appearing in the city, operating without any identifying signs and without connection to authorized universities. The office may be located in some shopping center. There is no separate entrance, no signs or advertising. Migrants receive an “address” exclusively on a piece of paper, which is given to them in good faith, for example, near the Unified Document Issuance Center, somewhere on the street. Red Textile Workers. As they say, very large power figures are involved in such a scheme, and probably someone from the leadership of the wonderful State Institute of Russian Language named after. A.S. Pushkin.

Advertisements for “exams” are easily found in hotels and hostels where migrants are temporarily registered. This is seriously facilitated by organizations inviting foreigners to work in Russia. Some of these organizations, according to their documents, have the right to teach migrants the Russian language and help them pass exams.

According to our sources, there are only a few such organizations that have received the required permits from law enforcement agencies, for example in St. Petersburg. To multimillion-dollar St. Petersburg.

“The migration line is a scheme that emerged not so long ago and is just being tested for the merging of law enforcement agencies and the already existing motley ethnic hierarchy on the territory of Russia, – our insiders say. – The question of who now really controls migration flows in the Northern capital – government agencies or diaspora bosses – has a clear answer – the latter. They pay well first. The security forces can only maneuver between them, avoiding acute conflicts.”

The situation in St. Petersburg with migrants is already close to a stalemate. Will the Investigative Committee finally look into schemes involving language centers? We will learn about this a little later.