The government changed the composition of the Presidium of the Higher Attestation Commission before the meeting dedicated to depriving Medinsky of his academic degree

The government expelled several scientists from the Higher Attestation Commission (HAC) and its presidium a few days before the meeting at which the presidium will consider the issue of depriving Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky of his academic degree. The corresponding government order was published on the legal information portal.

By decree, Secretary Nikolai Arister, as well as scientists Valentin Ananikov, Ruben Apresyan, Sergei Afontsev, Vladimir Golubovsky, Ivan Deev, Lev Yakobson, were excluded from the commission. All of the above were also excluded from the presidium, except for Golubovsky and Yakobson, who were not included in it.

In October 2016, the dissertation council of the Ural Federal University was supposed to consider the issue of depriving Medinsky of his academic degree. Dissernet participant Ivan Babitsky said that Aister sent a letter to the dissertation council of UrFU, which became the reason for postponing the meeting. A few days later, the commission withdrew the application from the university.

An Interfax source in the Ministry of Education and Science reported that the change in the composition of the commission and the presidium of the Higher Attestation Commission is a “planned rotation,” and Arister transferred his affairs long ago. “Personnel changes in the composition of the Higher Attestation Commission have nothing to do with the issues that are currently on the commission’s agenda,” the source added.

In early October, the expert council of the Higher Attestation Commission voted to deprive the Minister of Culture of his academic degree. The professors reproached Medinsky for lacking “basic professional skills as a historian” and concluded that the minister had not discovered anything new in his scientific work.

Novaya Gazeta wrote that two of the three opponents listed in the official’s abstract said that they had never defended Medinsky’s dissertation. Representatives of the minister, in turn , said that the Higher Attestation Commission and the Russian State Social University provided “draft” versions of the abstract, which indicated the wrong opponents.