The Ministry of Education and Science temporarily suspended one of the richest rectors Natalia Pochinok from work at the RSSU. Her university is involved in a “dissertation factory”

The Ministry of Education and Science temporarily suspended from work one of the richest rectors of Russia, the head of the Russian State Social University Natalia Pochinok. About it informs RBC with reference to the order of the department.

Pochinok was suspended from work until September 6 due to verification of the accuracy and completeness of her declaration, as well as information about income.

Andrey Khamrov was appointed acting rector of the university, who worked as vice-rector for security at RSSU. According to him, now an unscheduled check has begun at the university on the fact of students’ complaints about education and accommodation.

Natalya Pochinok has headed the RSSU since 2014, being one of the richest rectors in Russia, according to the declarations provided by law. Pochinok acted as a confidant of Vladimir Putin in the presidential elections. She also tried to be elected to the Moscow City Duma herself. The experts interviewed by the publication called Pochinok the rector, “built into the vertical of power”.

During his leadership of the university, the name Pochinok was mentioned in connection with several scandals. So, in 2019, the rector of the RSSU complained to the HSE about the publication of inaccurate information about herself. in the material student edition DOXA. After that, the HSE leadership deprived the publication of the status of a student organization and funding, and then the state began to haunt its authors and creators.

The student publication discovered that a factory of “literary blacks” was operating at the RSSU, and so “effectively” that in 2015 the diploma for “the largest number of publications” (732 articles in the Russian Science Citation Index) was given by Mrs. Pochinok to an employee of the Kursk branch of the RSSU Ilya Medvedev. In RSSU, there was a practice of awarding up to 100 thousand rubles for employees for publications in scientific journals, and for many it became a business.

Natalia Pochinok’s income declarations also came under the attention of society. So, in 2015, the head of the RSSU reported on annual earnings of 41 million rubles, two apartments with a total area of ​​469 square meters and a Ducatti Monster motorcycle, becoming the third rector in Russia in terms of official income.

How notes Kommersant, Natalya Pochinok actively tries herself in politics. In 2016, the rector of the RSSU entered the Public Chamber of Moscow, in 2017 – into the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation. In 2018, she became a confidant of Vladimir Putin in the presidential elections, and in 2019 she was the moderator of the United Russia discussion platforms and herself tried to run for the Moscow City Duma. Natalya Pochinok was a self-nominated candidate, but funds for her campaign were donated by the People’s Projects Foundation, which is an affiliated with the United Russia party.