Category Archives: Medinsky

Russian Doctorate Corruption

On October 20, 2017, the Presidium of the Higher Attestation Commission (VAK) recommended not to deprive Vladimir Medinsky, Russian Minister of Culture, of the degree of Doctor of Historical Sciences. The Expert Council of VAK on History had previously voted for the deprivation of the academic degree, stating that Medinsky lacked the basic skills and knowledge necessary for a… Read More »

Medinsky Dissertation in Trouble

On October 2, 2017, the Expert Council on History of the Higher Attestation Commission (VAK) voted to deprive of Vladimir Medinsky, Russian Minister of Culture, of the Doctor of Historical Sciences degree. A very detailed official review of the VAK experts says that Medinsky did not present anything new in his work. The experts wrote: “The fact that… Read More »

Vladimir Medinsky’s Dissertation Still Questioned

On April 21, 2017, the Presidium of the Higher Attestation Commission recommended transferring the discussion of the doctorate dissertation by Vladimir Medinsky, Russia’s Minister of Culture, to the Dissertational Council of the Belgorod State National Research University. Previously, Medinsky’s seriously criticized doctoral thesis “Problems of Objectivity in Descriptions of Russian History of the Second Part of the 15th-17th… Read More »

A Bad Day for Historical Truth in Russia

Vladimir Medinsky Remains “Doctor of Sciences” The attempt of concerned Russian historians to deprive Russian Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky of his doctorate degree due to his doctoral thesis, which espouses the view “that historical events and figures should be assessed from the point of view of the national interests of Russia” have failed. On February 7, 2016, the… Read More »

Uncertainty with Vladimir Medinsky’s Dissertation Continues

The doctoral dissertation controversy of Vladimir Medinsky, Russian Minister of Culture and Chairman of the Russian Military-Historical Society that supported the recent publication of Ivan Serov’s controversial memoir Notes from a Suitcase, continues to be uncertain. In April 2016, two Russian historians, Drs. Vyacheslav Kozlyakov and Konstantin Yerusalimsky, specialists on the Russian history of the 15th-17th Centuries, and… Read More »

A New State Ideology?

On November 18, 2016, in Moscow and the city of Volokolamsk near Moscow ceremonial events were held in honor of the 75th anniversary of the beginning of the counter-offensive of the Red Army near Moscow in 1941. Vladimir Medinsky, Russian Minister of Culture, opened an exhibition “War and Myths” in Moscow central exhibition hall “Manezh”, and gave a… Read More »

History Redefined as Propaganda

Vladimir Medinsky, Russian Minister of Culture and “Doctor” of Sciences, continues to insist on his understanding of history as propaganda instead of science. On November 3, 2016, he said on Russian TV: “My opponents do not like my concept. I say that historical events and figures should be assessed from the point of view of the national interests… Read More »

Academicians Push Back

There were never two opinions: Medinsky’s dissertation for all historians is a pure joke. Even when someone tried to defend him, he pointed out literally that [Medinsky] is a patriot, and he must be protected from the Liberals. –Dr. Ivan Babitsky, Dissernet The previously described situation with the Doctor Dissertation of Vladimir Medinsky, Russian Minister of Culture, continues… Read More »