Transparency International - Russia stopped cooperation with the Higher School of Economics after the dismissal of the head of the anti-corruption laboratory

The Russian branch of the international anti-corruption organization Transparency International – Russia has ceased cooperation with the HSE Project and Training Laboratory for Anti-Corruption Policy (PULAP) after the dismissal of its founder Elena Panfilova from the university.

“The current stage of development of Russian statehood leaves no room for the continuation of our cooperation,” the organization said in a statement.

Transparency International Russia spokesman Gleb Gavrish told The Bell that the university was not happy with some joint projects, including Declarator (a database of income and property declarations for public officials) and Sextorshn (a public campaign for the introduction of ethical Code of Deputies and criminal liability for “sexual extortion”).

This is not about the entire leadership of the HSE, but about two or three people who have a different idea of ​​​​the work of the international organization and PULAP, Gavrish noted.

Elena Panfilova, head of the PULAP and senior lecturer at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Higher School of Economics, resigned from the university due to some “institutional and ethical conflict”. According to her, she has not been officially working since July 20, because "the management has some nervousness regarding certain projects."

Panfilova opened the Russian branch of the international anti-corruption organization Transparency International in 2000 and led it until 2014. From 2014 to 2017, she served as vice president of the global organization. The Anti-Corruption Policy Laboratory was founded by Panfilova in 2009 together with HSE Rector Yaroslav Kuzminov.