Meduza: Medvedchuk’s daughter was twice unable to be expelled from the Higher School of Economics for fake medical certificates and poor academic performance

The daughter of pro-Russian politician and Putin’s godfather Viktor Medvedchuk, Daria, was twice unable to be expelled from the Higher School of Economics, despite violations and poor academic performance. This was reported by sources from Meduza and the University Transparency Laboratory.

According to investigators, Daria Medvedchuk has been living in Moscow since at least 2021. In August 2021, she entered the National Research University Higher School of Economics for the Business Management program under the quota for foreigners. Other applicants include Ukrainians Daniil Kosovsky and Valentina Shust.

As Meduza notes, Daniel’s father Vitaly Kosovsky is a famous archpriest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. Valentina's father Dmitry Shust is a board member of the Medvedchuk Charitable Foundation.

During the summer session, all three, the source claims, missed the same exam and brought certificates from the Morozov Children's Hospital to the study office. The documents turned out to be fake, and the educational office prepared expulsion orders.

After this, according to the source, the administrator of the educational office began to receive calls from unknown persons who posed as “representatives of the parents” of the students and urged them to stop the expulsion because it “destroys the lives and fate of students.”

After the second fake certificates, the manager of the educational program told the administrator that she “received a call from [university vice-rector Sergei] Roshchin” and asked not to expel Medvedchuk, Shust and Kosovsky “because they are from Ukraine and they have a difficult life situation.” According to the source, the administrator was prohibited from using the expressive button, explaining that “the situation is very strange, they are asking for these students at a very high level, and it is not clear what to expect from all this.”

However, students still failed to pass the summer session, having received more than three retakes. They were sent notices of expulsion. Then, according to a source who worked at the Higher School of Economics at the time, a “gangster-looking man and woman, in leather jackets and with evil eyes,” came to the academic office.

They brought alcohol, sweets and certificates of transfer of Shust and Kosovsky to MGIMO and asked about the fate of Medvedchuk. One of the employees of the educational office replied that Daria “was given the opportunity to write a motivation letter and study further.”

Investigators were unable to find out whether Shust and Kosovsky study at MGIMO. Shust’s profile on VKontakte indicates that she is a student at MGIMO. Medvedchuk is listed in the HSE student rankings with an average score of 5.09 on a ten-point scale.

In September, 215 Ukrainian prisoners of war were exchanged for 55 Russians and one Viktor Medvedchuk. Since then, it is unknown where President Vladimir Putin’s godfather is.