Mikhail Kovalchuk, head of the National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute", a supporter of conspiracy theories, became president of the Polytechnic Museum. This is stated in a press release published on the museum's website.
Mikhail Kovalchuk is the brother of the head of Rossiya Bank Yuri Kovalchuk and a friend of Vladimir Putin. He repeatedly spoke about the so-called "plan of the West" regarding the creation of a "service man". According to him, "a service person has a limited self-awareness, his reproduction is under external control, genetically modified organisms serve him as cheap food." The earliest mention of a "man of service" can be heard in the Soviet feature film of the 1960s "Dead Season".
In addition, Kovalchuk is the ideologist of the war with Ukraine. He believes that it is in this country that the West is allegedly fighting against Russia, introducing the ideas of tolerance towards LGBTQ+ and the priority of the individual over the state. This, in his opinion, leads to the "decomposition of consciousness" of people.
A press release from the Polytechnic Museum quoted Kovalchuk as saying:
“To be in direct contact with those who drive progress is important for a museum that broadcasts not only a picture of the research past, but also a scientific and technological image of the future.”
In early February, Elena Pronicheva became the general director of the Tretyakov Gallery, replacing Zelfira Tregulova, who had been in charge of the museum since 2015. Pronicheva is the daughter of the former head of the FSB Border Service, Vladimir Pronichev. She has served as director of the Polytechnic Museum since December 2020.
On March 20, it became known that the director of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Marina Loshak, wrote a letter of resignation with the wording "of her own free will" and Elizaveta Likhacheva will replace her. Subsequently, a photograph of Stalin was noticed in Likhacheva's office. According to her , Stalin is "a pop culture item, like Mickey Mouse".