Putin has set up a commission to combat “falsification of history.” It will be headed by Vladimir Medinsky, whose dissertation has previously caused controversy.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decree on the creation of an interdepartmental commission on historical education, which will have to fight against “falsification of history” and the preparation of “counter-propaganda measures”.

The decree emphasizes that the commission was created to “ensure a planned and aggressive approach to the issue of upholding the national interests of the Russian Federation related to the preservation of historical memory and the development of educational activities in the field of history.” According to the document, the commission, among other things, will analyze the activities of “foreign structures and persons damaging the national interests” of Russia in the historical sphere, as well as prevent “attempts to falsify historical facts.”

Ex-Minister of Culture of Russia Vladimir Medinsky should head the commission. Recall that in September 2016, a member of the Dissernet community, philologist Ivan Babitsky submitted an application to the Ministry of Education and Science with a request to deprive Medinsky of the degree of Doctor of Historical Sciences, since, in his opinion, the minister’s dissertation “Problems of Objectivity in Covering Russian History in the Second Half of the XV-XVII Centuries” absurd. A number of historians, evaluating the work, came to the conclusion that it has no scientific value.

Under pressure from the scientific community, the question of depriving Medinsky of his academic degree was raised. However, the dissertation council of Moscow State University, which was supposed to consider this issue, was suddenly disbanded.

October 20, 2017 Presidium of the Higher Attestation Commission recommended The Ministry of Education and Science will not deprive Medinsky of the academic degree of Doctor of Science. This decision was opposed by 4 members of the Presidium, 16 were in favor, the remaining 4 people abstained. Then Medinsky first attended a meeting of the commission on his dissertation, the event was held in a closed mode from the press.

After that, it became known that the VAK expected rotation of personnel. October 23, 2017 the chairman of the expert council of the commission Pavel Uvarov wrote letter of resignation.

Read more about the story of Medinsky’s dissertation in The Insider: Villa for an average salary and an abstract from Twitter. How “Vesti” defended Medinsky and Soloviev and Pereobulsya on the fly. Medinsky presented an abstract with other opponents. Dissernet: “This is a forgery”