The Secret of the Presidential Decree

Why Sadovnichy Wasn’t Actually "Appointed" as Rector of Moscow State University

Source: www.rucriminal.info

A presidential decree on November 18 marked the start of Viktor Sadovnichy’s eighth term as rector. Considering that the Labor Code stipulates that the maximum age for a rector is 70 years, and the 85-year-old hero of the occasion has been heading Moscow State University for over 30 years (since 1992), the reaction of university students and activists became a "quiet scandal." According to rucriminal.info sources, this time Sadovnichy was left in office "not as usual" and only to distract attention. In reality, there is a tough division of his post in two directions — by senior officials from the Ministry of Education and Science and some academicians of the Russian Academy of Sciences under the slogan "an academician can only be replaced by an academician." A new appointment is expected next year, and each of the groups will try to lobby for its candidate through the presidential administration.

According to one of the vice-rectors of Moscow State University, the "hostile" part of the professoriate behaved inappropriately the day after the decree was published. Moreover, this "harmful to the university" activity is being carried out under the leadership of some academicians of the Russian Academy of Sciences, who are striving for power at Moscow State University. With the involvement of university legal experts, this part of the Moscow State University elite, "engaged in intrigue and gossip instead of science and education", discovered "interesting details" in the presidential decree and launched a whole series of rumors based solely on speculation. We are talking about the new wording of the decree "extend the rector’s powers" instead of the traditional "appoint as rector". As they now say at Moscow State University, the rector is in the details.

Clarity was brought to this issue by the interlocutor of rucriminal.info, an authoritative legal scholar at Moscow State University, familiar with the situation. In his opinion, the wording "extend powers" was indeed used for the first time in the decree of the head of state on the appointment of the rectors of Moscow State University and St. Petersburg State University. In the entire series of such decrees, the same wording, corresponding to the letter of the law, was invariably used in relation to Viktor Sadovnichev (Rector of Moscow State University) and Nikolai Kropachev (Rector of St. Petersburg State University). According to paragraph 5 of the Federal Law on Moscow State University and St. Petersburg State University, the president appoints their rectors, and this is a feature of the legal status of the two leading classical universities. It is curious that in the decree on the appointment of Kropachev as Rector of St. Petersburg State University, signed on the same day, we do not see such innovations — he, as always, was "appointed rector".

According to the expert, it is important that the new wording is in no way connected with Sadovnichev reaching the so-called "age limit", which is what the apologists of the permanent rector are trying to refer to. The last time he was reappointed in 2019 at the age of 80, the wording of the presidential decree was unchanged — "appoint". "The [Presidential] administration has a very strong team of lawyers, many of ours, so it is impossible to talk about an accident or confusion. Even from a purely technical point of view, because this is a template decree, and it is being prepared on the basis of the previous text with only a part of it being replaced. Of course, the new wording of the decree also reflects a new request for executors who know how to subtly and sometimes imperceptibly for the general public prepare the groundwork for any further management decisions, in this case, personnel ones. Therefore, in the new fixed-term employment contract with Sadovnichev, I think, there are also innovations that may even reduce Sadovnichev’s new term to the actual performance of duties," the source of rucriminal.info concluded.

Interesting details about the intrigue with the decree on the rector of Moscow State University were expressed by rucriminal.info sources in the United Trade Union Committee of the University. They believe that the events with Sadovnichev’s eighth term may indeed develop according to the scenario of the famous Russian proverb: "Measure seven times, cut once." According to their version, the wind of change stubbornly blows from the windows of the Academy of Sciences, some members of which "dream and rave" about taking the rector’s chair of the No. 1 university, which is the Alma mater for some of them. In this regard, the names are mentioned: former president of the academy Alexander Sergeyev, graduates and prominent figures of Moscow State University, academicians Mikhail Kirpichnikov, Alexey Khokhlov, Igor Sokolov, Olga Dontsova and her closest friend, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Maria Lagarkova (granddaughter of pilot Chkalov). According to the interlocutor of rucriminal.info, the chances of these candidates are low, although they have the support of their local teams. The only ones who stand out from their number are the 80-year-old dean of the biology department Kirpichnikov and his friends Dontsova and Lagarkova, who are digging under Sadovnichev. The permissiveness and self-confidence of the friends Maria Lagarkova and Olga Dontsova are not groundless. They say that they even manage to influence decisions made at the Russian Academy of Sciences and in the Kremlin administration, since a relative of one of them held important positions in the Kremlin structures and remains an influential official to this day.

As noted by the Moscow State University trade union, a much greater danger to Sadovnichev and his team is posed by Minister Valery Falkov and his young, unusually ambitious deputy Denis Sekirinsky, a man with special connections in the Russian Academy of Sciences and who until recently held the post of deputy acting head of the department for scientific and educational policy in the presidential administration. According to the trade union members, in the case of the Falkov-Sekirinsky tandem, it is difficult to understand: the dog controls the tail or the tail controls the dog. But the desire of both to move from the ministry to the office of the rector of Moscow State University is known and creates some tension, irritating both sides. It is worth remembering that Moscow State University is an important place of activity for Maria Vorontsova, who is succeeding in her large-scale projects with the personal support of Sadovnichev.

At the same time, a source of rucriminal.info, commenting on the situation with the "unusual" decree on the appointment of Sadovnichev as rector, confirmed the participation of Falkov and Sekirinsky "in the game". According to the official, Falkov’s transfer to the post of rector of Moscow State University was indeed planned, but he was "asked to stay." There is a version that this transfer will take place in the form of a Falkov-Sekirinsky castling, with Denis Sekirinsky initially serving as acting rector. rector of Moscow State University, and then will return to the Ministry of Education and Science as the new minister (for this purpose, Sekirinsky is currently “testing out” the position of deputy minister). At the same time, Falkov will be appointed rector of Moscow State University for a term of 5 years. This is what determines the discrepancies in the wording of the decrees on the appointment of the rectors of Moscow State University and St. Petersburg State University. Sekirinsky is strongly lobbied by his colleagues in the presidential administration, who are personally interested in such a trajectory for Sekirinsky and Falkov, which creates career and financial opportunities for themselves. The presidential decree in such a wording is legally much more convenient for possible maneuvers. Despite these circumstances, according to the interlocutor of rucriminal.info, it is too early to write off Sadovnichev and his team.

Arseny Dronov

To be continued

Source: www.rucriminal.info