Ukrainian Daria Medvedchuk, the daughter of the pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk, is studying in Moscow at the Higher School of Economics as part of a program for foreign citizens at a paid department. As Meduza and the Laboratory of University Transparency found out , she was enrolled in the faculty of the Higher School of Business along with two other citizens of Ukraine – Daniil Kosovsky and Valentina Shust, children of people close to Viktor Medvedchuk. Despite the missed session and fake medical certificates, Daria continues to be a university student.
Meduza notes that all three students missed the same exam during the summer session, after which (again, the three of them) sent medical certificates from the Morozov Children's City Clinical Hospital to the academic department, which turned out to be fake. An employee of the faculty administration sent the students a notice of expulsion and termination of the contract. After that, he began to receive threatening calls from strangers who urged him to stop the expulsion procedure.
After some time, the students again provided certificates from the hospital, but the administration of the faculty again identified a fake by contacting the staff of the medical institution: the clinic insisted that it had not issued any documents to Darya Medvedchuk and her classmates.
Then the manager of the educational program intervened in the situation, who informed the administrator that representatives of HSE Vice-Rector Sergei Roshchin called her and asked her not to expel students, since “they are from Ukraine and they have a difficult life situation.”
Despite the support of the HSE administration, the students did not pass the summer session and scored more than three retakes, which, according to the rules of the university, leads to expulsion. They were sent notifications of expulsion "for unfair development of the educational program."
After that, a man and a woman of “gangster-like appearance, in leather jackets and with evil eyes” came to the educational part of the faculty, the source said. They brought certificates about the transfer of Shust and Kosovsky to MGIMO, as well as alcohol and sweets. Having handed over documents and gifts, the visitor asked about the fate of Darya Medvedchuk. One of the employees of the educational unit answered her that Daria “was given the opportunity to write a letter of motivation and study further,” to which the woman nodded with satisfaction and left.
In September, Viktor Medvedchuk , detained by the Security Service of Ukraine , was exchanged by Russia for Ukrainian prisoners of war.
In 2004, Medvedchuk became the godfather of Vladimir Putin – he, together with Dmitry Medvedev's wife Svetlana, baptized his daughter Daria. Since 2018, Medvedchuk has led the pro-Russian party Opposition Platform – For Life in Ukraine. On June 20, her activities in Ukraine were banned .