© "New Izvestia", 07.13.99
PR campaigns of the Moscow Patriarchate: The image of church charity combined with semi-criminal commercial activities
Vadim Belykh, Evgeny Komarov
Favorite from Chisty Lane
The earth is full of rumors. For several years now, within the walls of the Moscow Patriarchate, the non-Russian name Gulya has been pronounced with aspiration. Some say that she allegedly introduces herself as the wife of the patriarch, some say that she sells human organs, some say... However, “one woman said”... Gulya is Gulnaz Sotnikova, a curvaceous blonde with an iron grip. Not only in the patriarchy are they afraid of her. She is a character in at least five criminal cases of smuggling and at the same time a protégé of the country's former chief customs officer Valery Draganov.
Slander of a bright name
The May-June milestone was marked by calls from Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus' to make donations to the Russian Charitable Foundation for Reconciliation and Harmony, placed in the paid advertisement sections of many newspapers. The large-scale event was timed to coincide with International Children's Day. The Patriarch called “in this difficult time” to restore “lost unity” and to look into the eyes of children “begging for help and participation.” Next came a brief history of the foundation’s three-year charitable exploits and, of course, its details.
On June 2, the charity marathon ended with a pompous concert in the Hall of Columns former House unions. Eyewitnesses noted many empty seats in the front rows: most of the high-ranking wedding generals did not show up. There was not even a regular participant in the church events of the Moscow mayor Yu. Luzhkov. Among the top officials, only the communist G. Zyuganov wandered in, probably by mistake. Apparently, this was a consequence of the facts of financial abuse of the Reconciliation and Harmony Fund and related commercial structures that became public. The chairman of the fund's board of trustees is Patriarch Alexy. However, all the real work is carried out by its president Gulnaz Ivanovna Sotnikova. The semi-church fund with a loud name is only the tip of the iceberg of her commercial group, which also included the notorious medical company Vertex, the transport and trading company Vertex-Avia and others. In essence, the fund, invented by Sotnikova in the year declared by the Russian President as the “year of reconciliation and consent,” is intended to provide ideological cover for the economic activities of the entire group, to create for its leader the image of a church philanthropist.
Despite the active work of this fund, in February 1999, the American side, when preparing supplies of humanitarian food aid to Russia in the amount of $650 million, refused the mediation of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Fund for Reconciliation and Concord. In the publication of Russia Reform Monitor No. 584, published by the American Council on foreign policy and distributed in the White House, it was said about the involvement of the foundation and its management in criminal business.
Serious claims have indeed accumulated against Sotnikova and her companies from the Department of Economic Crimes and tax authorities. On those very summer days when the patriarch called for help for children with money through Sotnikova’s foundation, in her office (Petrovsky Boulevard, 5), employees of the capital’s RUBOP seized documents (contracts, invoices, correspondence from the Vertex company).
Apparently, Sotnikova’s children’s charity marathon was conceived as a counter-offensive, as a retaliatory PR campaign, with hype in the press and on television. The culmination was the statement of Patriarch Alexy to ITAR-TASS correspondent Olga Kostromina, which was then transmitted through all channels of the agency. The text is striking in its frankness:
“The Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II regarded the publications that appeared in a number of media outlets about alleged abuses in the activities of the Russian Charitable Foundation for Reconciliation and Harmony, which he founded, as a purposeful action directed against the Russian Orthodox Church and its primate. ... He called it slander all publications relating to both the foundation itself and its president Gulnaz Sotnikova." “There were so many calls, touching notes from children with the signature “To my unknown friend,” the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church sheds tears in his interview. “This action united our society, and malicious slander can sow doubts in the hearts of people...”
Perhaps never before has Patriarch Alexy defended someone publicly and with such passion. Who was he protecting?
Dirty laundry from Chisty Lane
When the military writer Ivan Vladimirovich Sotnikov and the Bashkir Alina Kashfievna Aralbaeva had a daughter, Gulnaz, almost forty years ago, they probably did not suspect that she would become a new Russian people and become the favorite of the All-Russian Patriarch himself.
In the Moscow Patriarchate, favoritism has its own history. As in any closed system operating according to the artificial laws of a certain ideology, the relative weight of an official is determined not by the title of the position, but by a complex composition of informal connections. Quite often in the apparatus of the Russian Orthodox Church you can find a person who has a high-profile post, but does not have any influence in the apparatus games. But a lot of people work there, as they say, “on their own”: a person does not have an official position at all, but there is no way to bypass him in a whole range of issues. The hypertrophied development of this principle leads to a complete closedness of the system: if some stranger tries to penetrate inside the church apparatus, then, out of ignorance, he immediately makes so many mistakes, is blown up by so many instrumental booby traps, under the humble smiles and affectionate “happy holiday” congratulations of the natives of the system, that, bleeding, with the reservations “mind me,” he immediately leaves the “bad” institution. They proudly say about such people: “He is not the master of our church intrigue.” You need to get used to this little world for years in order to be able to use the storms in a glass of water to your advantage.
A rare profession - a church apparatchik. But the device itself did not exist for many years. During Soviet times, many official issues were dealt with by the Council for Religious Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church. Internal, local affairs were resolved in a family manner. Under the previous Patriarch Pimen (Izvekov; +1990), a bright star was Nadezhda Nikolaevna Dyachenko - the wife of Archpriest Peter, the second priest of the Church of Ilya the Obydenny, near whom the Cathedral of Christ the Savior is now being built. Nadezhda Nikolaevna appeared in Chisty Lane, where the working residence of the Moscow patriarchs is located, around 1985, when Pimen’s health sharply deteriorated (diabetes, rectal cancer). She was probably caring for a sick person, and at the same time resolving her own issues and the issues of the environment that immediately arose around her. Because of her influence and closeness to Pimen, they called her the Nadezhda of All Rus' and were very afraid of her. Many of the current bishops brought Magarych to the Nadezhda of All Rus' for the promotion of their favorites to bishops. They say it cost five thousand Brezhnev rubles. Those who counted this money before handing it over to the mistress are still alive.
In June 1986, Nadezhda of All Rus' achieved the removal of Metropolitan Alexy (Ridiger) of Leningrad and Ladoga, the current patriarch, from the post of manager of the affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate - he served in this position for 22 years! Patriarch Pimen died, having written a significant part of his property to Nadezhda in his will.
Specifically, in order to disavow this will, the Holy Synod, after Pimen’s death, made a closed decision that the gifts presented to the head of the Church did not belong to him, as to an individual, and organizations - the Church. Inside the Church this was perceived as a breath of perestroika. The loudest voice in the Synod against the practice of “nepotism” was Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, who by that time headed the DECR. He is, perhaps, the only one who created at least a semblance of a normal bureaucratic structure in the department under his jurisdiction, where every issue is dealt with not by a group of people close to the body, but by officially appointed officials. And, by the way, it is him, as you might guess, that Gulnaz Sotnikova blames for his failures today.
Either a nun or a shepherdess
The first “strangers” appeared in the small world of the patriarchy after the liberalization of the economy. Many bankers and businessmen came with proposals, to put it in secular terms, to organize a joint business. However, a conversation like: you invest one thing, I invest another, we work together, we divide the profit - the Church usually does not understand. This is due to the specifics of monetary relations in modern Russian religious organization: money is seen there not in the form of investments, securities and the like, but in the form of direct cash donations in black cash. In other words, for most churchmen, money is only money when it is given in an envelope, just like that, forever and a lot. Therefore, luck awaited in Chisty Lane only those who came not with projects, but immediately with a full cup. To such comrades their gift was repaid a hundredfold.
What attracted business people to the Church? On the one hand, there are significant economic benefits provided to it by legislators. On the other hand, the general authority of people in robes: after all, recently a double standard has been established in the minds of many officials and even law enforcement officers. Since it is the Church, it is a holy thing. You can do what a godless businessman cannot. So businessmen were drawn to faith.
Gulnaz Ivanovna appeared in Chistoye in February 1996: she came to congratulate the patriarch on Angel Day and offered to make a film about him. But she did not come empty-handed: a blue Jaguar was brought to Chisty Lane as a gift for the patriarch. However, it is possible that the gift was nominal: now Sotnikova herself drives this Jaguar as a service car. There was something else, God knows.
Basically, Sotnikova’s companies were engaged in importing consumer goods from China - the kind that Moscow wholesalers are inundated with. To optimize customs payments and solve problems with competitors, a good “roof” was required. It was probably then that the idea of mowing down church charity was born. The Patriarch began to help Sotnikova resolve problems with law enforcement agencies.
Why is Sotnikov’s Church so dear? No one knows. It is known, for example, that last year she made repairs to the working patriarchal residence in Chisty Lane and ordered new furniture. Employees of the apparatus of the Russian Orthodox Church speak about her in a whisper: the name of Gul sounds within the walls of Chisty Lane, where the office of the Patriarchate is located, more strictly than the Lord God. Church officials are generally afraid to meet with journalists: if anything happens, Guly will be fired instantly.
In Chisty Lane there is a complex table of ranks: how and where a person walks, how far he bows his head when greeting, all this must correspond to the place in the virtual hierarchy that he actually occupies. Most visitors to Chistoye leave their cars on the street and enter the courtyard on foot through the gate. Permanent members of the Synod have the right to drive their car inside Chistoy, 5. But transport does not wait for them at the patriarch’s porch: the car immediately drives deeper into the building and parks there. Only Gulya, like the patriarch, drives into the courtyard and stops right at the main porch, where her Jaguar is waiting for the owner during the meeting with the primate. He who has eyes, let him see. However, sometimes she comes on foot, in a common way: she lives nearby, on Smolenka. They say that the patriarch honored her apartment with his visit.
But Sotnikova’s first meetings with the patriarch took place more secretly: at his dacha (not the patriarch’s, but his personal) in Trudovaya, in the north of the Moscow region. There, the Patriarch always receives only the most necessary and trusted people, and the nuns who keep order at the dacha have always had a special status. The eldest of them, Ksenia, was even able to appoint her younger brother John to the bishopric of Yoshkar-Ola several years ago.
It is believed that it was precisely because of Gulnaz Ivanovna’s reluctance to lavish compliments that the patriarch’s closest associate, her personal assistant and translator Boris Vik, recently quit. However, he himself refused to make any comments. Now, instead of Vik, a certain Natalya Zyuzina is in contact with the press - a friend or colleague of Gulya Sotnikova, who introduces herself everywhere as the patriarch’s press secretary. There has never been such a position in the Russian Orthodox Church.
Fishing rods for Christmas
According to the Moscow Patriarchate, it was cheap fishing gear from China that Patriarch Alexy was going to give to the children who came to the House of Unions for the Patriarchal Christmas tree this year. A fully loaded Il-76 N 76457 landed before the New Year at the military airfield in Chkalovsky. The plane brought cargo to the address of Sotnikovsky "Vertex", according to the document - some inexpensive fishing rods, nets, etc.
However, employees of the 6th department of the capital's RUBOP were already monitoring the "fishermen". The trailers were stopped on the highway and inspected. It turned out that they mainly contained Chinese consumer goods: clothes, shoes, carpets, watches, jewelry, pens, key rings, children's toys, counterfeit CDs. A closer inspection revealed the presence of pornographic tapes and even drugs.
The Moscow Air Transport Prosecutor's Office decided to open a criminal case: smuggling is evident. But this is where it all began. Sotnikova connected the “roof”. She complained to the patriarch about the arbitrariness of the police. He contacted former border guard Nikolai Bordyuzha, then head of the presidential administration, via special communication. As a result, Bordyuzha contacted the Prosecutor General's Office (the Prosecutor General was then the incorruptible lover of blondes, Yuri Skuratov), and she demanded all the material on Vertex, and even hinted that it would be nice to give an answer to the patriarch why his cargo was "run into" . They say that Gulya does not like Skuratov’s successor, Yuri Chaika: he is not ours, he is not Orthodox. Will they reciprocate her feelings?
The specificity of the investigation of smuggling cases is such that in the very first hours it is necessary to collect the evidence base: to seize documents indicating incorrect declaration of cargo. It was these documents that the Rubopovites were deprived of. The new version of Sotnikova and the patriarch was as follows: the cargo is not fishing gear at all. This is humanitarian aid: gifts for children and some other goods, the money from the sale of which should go towards the restoration of churches.
Poor kids! The examination revealed not only the extremely low quality of the toys. There were fake ones on them trade marks(for example, Nike), and toxic substances prohibited by Russian standards were found in the materials from which they are made. Toys, for example, lost their color when simply wetted with water.
In an interview with ITAR-TASS, which we have already quoted, the patriarch said, defending Sotnikova, that in 1999 the Foundation for Reconciliation and Harmony provided $700 thousand in assistance to children. So, the cost of Chinese consumer goods in just one December Vertex plane, according to customs officials, is 1.6 million dollars! The cost of the software, which was recorded on half a thousand home-made Chinese CDs, is, according to estimates by the Software Products Manufacturers Association, $1,978,200 (Autodesk) and about another $1 million (Microsoft). Considering that Gulya modestly declared all this in the amount of $66,404, the patriarch’s words about helping children may turn out to be true: a kickback of some seven hundred grand will not seem like much. Moreover, that same Gulin “Jaguar” costs about one-seventh of this children's aid.
In the fight against law enforcement agencies, Sotnikova did not disdain any means. For example, she made a statement to the head of the transport supervision department, state counselor of justice 2nd class Morozov, that one of his subordinates, investigator Tolstenko, allegedly tried to rape poor Gulya during the reception (he, not knowing who he was dealing with, I didn’t think to invite witnesses). The official is still cleaning himself up before his own security department, and Morozov was afraid to talk with Gulya one-on-one and invited his colleagues into his office. Sotnikova came in a very revealing outfit and, crossing her legs, talked to the prosecutor’s employees as if they were naughty boys. Now her interrogation is a legend: the authorities have never seen anything like this before.
In total, Sotnikova has been involved in at least five criminal cases since 1993. All these episodes, with the exception of Chkalovsky’s already retold, are connected with Sheremetyevo customs and the violation of the patriarchal favorite customs rules(NTP). Once her “Vertex” tried to import consumer goods from China for the organizations “Stroytorginvest” and the 50th Anniversary of Victory Foundation. The case involves 756 places worth $108,815 and 758 places worth $106,226. To evade customs duties, Sotnikova tried to present powers of attorney from 45 individuals.
In 1994, she wanted to “shoe” her native state with 700 million rubles at that time. But she got off with a symbolic fine (below the lower limit established by the Customs Code). Other criminal cases were dropped altogether under a variety of pretexts. The fact is that a case opened by customs may result in either administrative or criminal liability. In the latter case, the case is usually transferred to the FSB. It was there, apparently, that all of Gulin’s affairs died out. For example, the earliest case that is currently under the supervision of supervisory authorities is number 112/93. It was transferred to the Department of the Ministry of Security (now the FSB) in Moscow and was terminated, according to the prosecutor's office, completely unreasonably, with incredible violations. Why is Sotnikova so loved in this harsh organization? Probably for being close to God
Gulya was also suspected of more terrible sins than NTP. Back in 1994, her Vertex was caught at customs with smuggled medical equipment. And the bulletin of the American Foreign Policy Council, Russia Reform Monitor N 584, which we have already quoted, reports on the possible involvement of the medical company Vertex in the trade in human placenta and other, so to speak, scarce abortion waste. The German magazine Stem reported that this could have happened at the Institute of Biological Medicine, which is located in the South-West of the capital. This institute was indeed under the operational development of the capital’s police for a number of years, but they could not prove anything here either. However, for such a specific field of activity as trading in human embryo tissue, special qualifications and special connections are required. This is somewhat more complicated than the shuttle business with China. Therefore, it is possible that all this is a rumor spread by Gulin’s medical “Vertex” competitors. She herself categorically denies involvement in the trade in human organs. Perhaps it was precisely in order not to harm the main business that the medical "Vertex" suspended its activities; this is exactly how the telephone information service responded to a request for its number.
A curious incident happened to Gulnaz Ivanovna on January 6, 1998. She decided to have a good celebration of Orthodox Christmas abroad, for which she hid 11,020 undeclared French francs. A criminal case was opened on this fact more than a year later - only on April 9, 1999 (case No. 08500-325/99).
Why did they wait so long? The prosecutor's investigation showed that on behalf of the then chairman of the State Customs Committee (SCC) Valery Draganov, his assistant M. B. Tretyakov called the Sheremetyevo customs and said that, according to Draganov’s verbal order, Sotnikova “should not have any problems with customs.” After that, they apologized to her and returned (!) all the currency. There is also a memo from Draganov addressed to his subordinates M.K. Egorov, O.N. Sviridov and S.M. Bekov with a proposal to understand the situation and apologize to Gulya. And, the funny thing is, the inspection materials included a letter from Sotnikova addressed to Draganov with gratitude for his help in solving the problem that arose at customs. As we see, the patriarchal favorite was honored not only in the FSB, but also in the State Customs Committee.
The case, initiated on April 9, did not last long, as it was discontinued due to the last amnesty. For those who don’t know: termination of a case under an amnesty implies a preliminary admission of guilt by the accused. So Gulya finally confessed.
In the absence of the Patriarch, I thank
Employees who have worked in the Moscow Patriarchate for several years do not believe their own eyes. How did Sotnikova manage to gain the trust of the patriarch? What connects: money? Human sympathy? It seems that she attracted the patriarch’s attention with her non-standard approach. The Patriarch is accustomed to more than respectful, bottom-up, treatment of his person. And then a relaxed blonde appears, not at all dressed up, like some others, in monastic decorations. Almost like a familiar friend, she begins to communicate with the head of the Church. He is surprised at first, but, being a delicate person, does not swear or persecute. And then it even becomes pleasant.
To the very Orthodox Church Gulya belongs very relatively: in her own words, she was baptized in the Armenian church, since one of her husbands was an Armenian. (Gulya was married at least twice - in accordance with the pious Christian tradition.) Allegedly, the patriarch personally anointed her and reunited her with Orthodoxy. And he personally baptized her son Maxim. A year ago, a newly revealed Orthodox laywoman was awarded one of the highest church awards: the Patriarch presented her with the Order of Princess Olga. For consumer goods from China?
Lately, Sotnikova has been striving to actively work with journalists, trying to quell the wave of dissatisfaction with her scams. Last Sunday, she broadcast on NTV a recording of a benefit concert on June 2 with self-confident captions: “I believe, I love, I hope. Gulya Sotnikova.” After the scandal with Scorsese’s film “The Last Temptation of Christ,” some figures in the management of NTV began to look for ways of a truce with the Russian Orthodox Church, just in case. Reports from one or another monastery began to appear on the channel more and more often. One of the main presenters of the TV channel set a goal: to get the patriarch to interview him. And Gulya easily promised this! Of course, she hopes for reciprocity. It is not for nothing that on June 10, NTV showed a recording of another concert - at the Bolshoi Theater, which took place in February on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the patriarch. The whole country watched with emotion as Gulya at the end of the program read, addressing the Patriarch, a sweet poem in the spirit of laudatory odes to Kim Il Sung. The Patriarch smiled patronizingly, and a perplexed Primakov sat next to him in the box...
Guests of the anniversary celebrations, approaching the hero of the day, were forced to diplomatically kiss the hand of Goulet standing next to him: she knows where to appear. And in the concert program “On behalf of the Moscow Patriarchate and the anniversary commission for holding a solemn charity concert on the eve of the 70th anniversary and name day of His Holiness the Most Holy Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II” expresses “deep gratitude to all participants in the program”... G. Sotnikova. That’s how it’s printed: without titles. Everyone should know this.
According to experts in the field of church politics, Guli’s days in the patriarchate will soon be numbered. In church circles, no one has yet been forgiven for demonstrative demands for public recognition. Most likely, the situation will end with one of the dormant (seemingly) bison of church intrigue choosing the right moment and framing Gulya. Well, for example, she will prove to the patriarch that Sotnikova deceived him in some way or was not sincere. And the patriarch will not be able to defend it without the threat of losing his own authority. Perhaps such plans are already being hatched by some Bishop Arseny or Major Pronin.
Mikhail ASKETOV,
columnist for "Special Letter"A sad story on the bright holiday of Knowledge Day, which destroys the stereotype about the “merits” of public education in comparison with private education. A story in which there are criminal cases, but there is no place for caring for children and innovative pedagogy.
Knowledge Day in Russia has long become a sad holiday. Watching how the once most educated, well-read nation is plunging deeper into the quagmire of obscurantism and ignorance, and the educational system is degenerating, it is impossible not to feel sad. It becomes doubly sad when you have the opportunity to get to know the situation in the field of education more closely, using some specific gloomy examples. The author of these lines recently had the opportunity to communicate with graduates and parents of students of one of best schools Moscow. They talked about the enormous difficulties the educational institution faces due to the tyranny and greed of officials.
Much has been written and said about the fact that in Russia there will always be someone to ruin any creative, private, but at the same time socially useful initiative. And, it would seem, it is no longer possible to be surprised by the countless examples of how bureaucratic bungling or, what is even worse and more often, the usual passion for corrupt gain destroys perfectly working, promising projects.
But we will still try to surprise you, since our story looks especially egregious - here children become victims of corruption.
In Moscow there is a non-state educational institution, working in the best traditions of the Russian school, is the Classical boarding school of Lomonosov Moscow State University. It was established 10 years ago by the Russian Charitable Foundation for Reconciliation and Concord of Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II, as well as Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov represented by the rector, academician Viktor Sadovnichy. Over the past years, the president of the boarding house, Gulnaz Sotnikova, has done big job to create literally from scratch a school that today occupies one of the best places in the ratings of private schools in the capital. It’s not just about attracting excellent specialists as teachers, including from Moscow State University, and forming modern concepts educational and educational work. The boarding school, contrary to the popular idea of private schools as isolated little worlds for “golden youth,” provided an opportunity to get quality education not only people from wealthy families, but also many talented children of not so wealthy parents. Sotnikova and her team held Olympiads and recruited gifted children.
During the organization of the operation of the boarding house, a huge amount of economic works. In the early 2000s, during the life of Alexy II, who patronized the boarding house, it was quite possible to achieve an excellent building, fully suitable for organizing the educational process in the traditional sense, not to mention the fact that in that era many people purchased empty buildings of kindergartens and kindergartens for next to nothing. schools
The situation with education in our country is catastrophic. Through the efforts of the state, citizens think in the categories of the Middle Ages. Stalin, miraculous icons, homeopathy, Pussy and “holy shit.” Obscurantism and arrogant ignorance are eclectically intertwined and passionately embraced. The globe flattens into a pancake, and three elephants and a turtle crawl out from under it. ()
But Sotnikova’s team decided not to look for easy ways. She set herself an ambitious pedagogical task: to create a school of the future. Construction began on Anokhin Street of a multifunctional building, under the roof of which three stages of the educational chain would be located: preschool, initial and high school, senior management education. It was assumed that in this educational complex, a real temple of pedagogy, there would be located not only traditional classrooms, but also a swimming pool and a ballroom. Significant funds were invested in the construction - more than 40 million rubles. CJSC Glavmosstroy was appointed as the contractor; the work was carried out under the supervision of First Deputy Mayor of Moscow Resin.
However, due to a conflict with the contractor (work on the project did not comply with technical specifications customer) construction was suspended, and in 2010, without any notification to the boarding house, the building was seized from the boarding house by order of the capital government, and this order contained information that did not correspond to reality. In particular, it was stated that the building transferred under the lease agreement was allegedly vacant, which is absolutely incorrect, since the boarding house was actively using it.
During the construction of its own building on Anokhin Street, the boarding house alternately lived under the same roof with two state educational institutions - first on Kremenchugskaya Street, and then on Initiative Street. Both times, at the expense of a boarding house in buildings that were in the traditional deplorable state of the public sector, major renovation. In particular, on Kremenchugskaya Street, in a short period of time, a major overhaul of the entire building was carried out with a complete replacement of heating, electrical wiring, plumbing, the school was re-equipped and re-equipped, and the interiors were decorated. The previously missing access road was paved. The building was cleared of “non-core” tenants - “rocking chairs” for strange-looking “weightlifters”, “saunas” for adults and other phenomena that are poorly compatible with children and the educational process.
At the last address of the boarding house on Initiative Street (Gymnasium No. 1588 is also located here), the management had to change and purchase at their own expense literally everything down to the furniture - the furniture, by the way, was purchased excellent, with a well-developed design; many Moscow schools can only afford such furniture dream.
It would seem that the Department of Education and the leadership of gymnasium No. 1588 need to look at what is happening and rejoice: thanks to Sotnikova’s vigorous activity government agency received incredible benefits from the fact that its space is rented by a boarding house. Gradually, a unique synergy was created: high school students used not only the material part, but also the services teaching staff the boarding school, its doctors, and the children of both educational institutions lived in a completely friendly atmosphere.
Everything began to change with the arrival of Yulia Semisazhenova as director of gymnasium No. 1588. Since last year, the director began to take action as part of a strategy for the survival of the boarding school from the gymnasium territory. Most likely, Semisazhenova’s goal was simple: to try to repeat the experience of the boarding school in the form that Semisazhenova herself imagined it - to make the teaching profession a profitable business, to make money from students. Of course, the boarding house appeared as a competitor: Semisazhenova hoped, by luring some of the teaching staff, to copy the methods and lifestyle of the boarding house.
Oddly enough, the headmistress of the gymnasium managed, through secret negotiations and various intrigues, to lure some of the boarding school teachers into her staff, promising them generous additional payments due to the receipt of extra-budgetary funds from the parents of the students. Semisazhenova managed to convince some teachers to make a choice in favor of a public school.
However, gullible teachers who, contrary to the historical experience of the 90s, associated the word “state” with the word “reliable”, were in for deep disappointment. Despite the promises of the director of the gymnasium and the guarantees of the head of the Moscow Department of Education Isaac Kalina, teachers who transferred to the gymnasium from the beginning of 2013 began to receive four times less salary than when they worked at the boarding school. The management of the gymnasium was forced to explain such a sharp decrease in salaries by the small number of students remaining in this educational institution (about 100 people).
However, Mrs. Semisazhenova herself managed to find the means to live more than comfortably: her salary (let us emphasize, the salary of the director of a budgetary educational institution) was 480 thousand (!) rubles, which is several times more than the salary of the director of the boarding house (about 90 thousand rubles). Semisazhenova’s closest circle was also not offended: for example, an accountant received about 150 thousand (her daughter was also employed at the gymnasium), a secretary - 120 thousand (her husband also found a place on the staff of the gymnasium).
In an attempt to squeeze all the financial juice out of the students’ parents, the gymnasium management began cutting free lessons: for example, if previously the gymnasium gave eight hours foreign language per week, then in 2012 curriculum There are only four hours left, and the curriculum has this year- only one hour of English per week and one of French, for the remaining hours it is expected to charge parents.
Then the leadership of the gymnasium came up with “innovative” ideas for introducing paid and free classes - and the free ones were supposed to exist at the expense of the paid ones.
It’s paradoxical, but true: it was the state educational institution that showed children and their parents a real “capitalist grin,” while the boarding school professed much more in its activities humanistic principles: those gifted children who studied at the boarding school for free were completely free from extortion, received food, and all additional lessons beyond the program were also free.
The boarding house was denied the conclusion of long-term lease agreements; its children and remaining teachers began to literally survive from the building furnished at the boarding house’s expense.
Semisazhenova tried to accuse the management of the boarding house of allegedly trying to falsify the lease agreement by removing certain pages from it, and on this basis declared that she considered herself free from the execution of the “invalid” agreement. However, later, when criminal cases were opened on the facts of what was happening in the gymnasium under the articles “Abuse of official authority” and “Taking a bribe,” a search was carried out at the State Budgetary Educational Institution “Gymnasium No. 1588” and at Semisazhenova’s apartment, during which a copy of the correctly executed, standard lease agreement, bound and signed by both parties, which Semisazhenova deliberately hid it and did not transfer it to the Departments of Property and Education, and also did not present it to the court. As a result, a new court hearing was scheduled to review the judicial act based on newly discovered circumstances.
Examples of squeezing the boarding school out of the gymnasium looked absolutely disgusting. If previously students of both gymnasiums and boarding schools enjoyed equal rights medical care(the boarding house organized physiotherapy, a hydropathic clinic, and massage room), then after the doctor medical center Not only did she not refuse to break off relations with the boarding house, but she also transferred her child there, and they refused her services. The result is that it was the students of the public school who suffered: instead of high-quality round-the-clock medical care for children, the gymnasium received a visiting doctor from the clinic, and the physiotherapy room and hydropathic clinic had to be closed due to complete desolation - for example, the floor of the hydropathic clinic was opened up, as sewerage got in there.
As the boarding school was forced out of the building that was once lovingly furnished by Gulnaz Sotnikova’s team, not only the physiotherapy room and the hydropathic clinic, but also the entire educational process fell into disrepair. Many teachers, faced with, to put it mildly, strange personnel and financial policy The management of the gymnasium resigned. Others, as “superfluous people,” were fired under far-fetched or even falsified pretexts. Due to the need to reduce staff, some members of the artificially inflated administration were offered the positions of cloakroom attendant and cleaner.
And although Yulia Semisazhenova herself still paid for her greed - the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against her for bribery, including investigating illegal expenses from the budget due to the enrollment of “dead souls” (students living in other regions of the Russian Federation and peace) and frauds with additional education, - the position of the gymnasium management did not become more prudent.
New director Vladimir Kovshov (who, by the way, managed to install his scandalous predecessor Semisazhenova in the director’s chair structural unit for extra-budgetary funds, whose activities in the person of the director, we remind you, are being investigated by the authorities) continued the tactics raider takeover everything that has been created by the boarding house over several years.
The situation with the furniture, which, as already mentioned, was purchased by the boarding house, looks especially ugly. The furniture, without any justification, without the consent of the owner, after the end of the gratuitous lease agreement for the property, was illegally placed on the balance sheet of the gymnasium and was actually appropriated by its management.
By order of the management of the gymnasium, furniture belonging to the boarding school is removed to an unknown direction.
It was not possible to resolve the problem through negotiations, and the “boarders” were forced to submit a statement to the Investigative Committee, which came to the gymnasium to conduct an inspection. However, the director of the gymnasium, using administrative resources, is trying in every possible way to interfere with the work of law enforcement officers, not hesitating to make it clear that he has a “protection” in the person of the head of the capital’s Department of Education, Isaac Kalina, and the head of the Education Department of the Western District, Barinova, whose direct instructions he carries out. And soon, according to some reports, the patrons of the “gymnasium” bosses at the mayor’s office tried to ensure that the investigators were recalled. To the credit of the staff Investigative Committee, despite the obvious obstacles posed by the patrons of the gymnasium management, they still continue to work on this matter.
Of course, by and large it’s not about the furniture or the curtains. The thing is that the boarding school will survive without gymnasium No. 1588; its team has already found new premises for the educational process and has probably learned lessons from what happened. But, no matter what anyone says, it’s difficult for a gymnasium to survive without a boarding school - this means, of course, not the administrative apparatus, but ordinary teachers and children. The material resources that were common to the gymnasium and the boarding school, as well as the unique atmosphere of the educational institution, were destroyed.
This is how the “state”, or more precisely, the hand of a corrupt official and tyrant posing as a state, can destroy society useful project, destroy a new type of school. This is the kind of “strong management” we have in Moscow at the local level.
I would like to ask the acting mayor of Moscow, Sergei Semenovich Sobyanin, whether he considers it normal for his subordinates from the Department of Education to cover up corrupt officials? Is it worthy? best city Earth" is a situation in which a bunch of people in power are trying to destroy one of the best educational institutions capital Cities? Isn’t it time to pay attention to the situation around the boarding house and draw the necessary organizational conclusions - at least so that officials learn a lesson for the future and do not interfere with people’s work?
Material prepared by: Mikhail Asketov, Alexander Gazov
Comments
Enter a code:
>> Done<<
For those who studied at the Classical boarding school of Moscow State University, it is no secret that this is a special educational institution. The boarding school does not just provide a fundamental basis for admission to the best universities in the country academically, it does not just promote the comprehensive creative development of the individual - it is a real school of life, it is a special spirit, it is a “healthy” environment, no “major”, where everyone is assessed according to their personal qualities. qualities and achievements, and not who has what parents.
I will never forget the unique atmosphere in which we lived and studied, the respectful and trusting relationships between teachers, mentors and students. This is not just a school - this is a Home, this is a Family. Our president, our second mother, Sotnikova Gulnaz Ivanovna, has always sincerely worried about each student and even after graduation, supports us all, knows about all our successes and problems.
I think that for all graduates, the Moscow State University Classical Boarding School became a defining milestone in choosing a future path in life. That is why the indifference of officials and the blatant injustice that the boarding house involuntarily had to face today seems not only to personify the authorities’ lack of understanding of the significance of what is happening, but also the ignorance and incompetence of those with whose indifferent consent all this is being done.
Elina Lopatyuk (Sayakhova)
As someone who studied at the Moscow State University Classical boarding school from grades 1 to 11, it is especially painful for me to read about what happened. I am convinced that there is no such school in the world as the Boarding House, it is difficult to explain, but an impressive part of my life was spent here, and, it is worth noting, happily.
The Best always have more envious people than supporters. For obvious reasons, some narrow-minded people immediately begin to think that creating a school such as a boarding school, and even on the basis built by them, is a simple and profitable task. Moreover, I am sure that no one set such a task - to repeat the success of the Boarding House. The task was to copy the business model, “make money,” and, while no one understood what happened, leave for the country without extradition. I don’t even know how to comment - the salary of a public school director is 480 thousand, 150 thousand for those around him, despite the fact that teachers receive 20 thousand each (http://otkrytoe-pismo.net/list.php?id=1342 - note that this an open letter from an employee of a gymnasium, not a boarding school),
I believe that our investigative agencies know their job very well and will trample both the “raider” herself and her associates into dust. And I invite everyone reading to stand up for the honor of the Boarding House and support it with at least a comment. Just believe me, this is the very case when you need to support a private school, not even just a private school, but a private initiative - a socially significant project, the legacy of Patriarch Alexy II, thanks to which, unlike today’s state policy, they had the opportunity to receive unique education of gifted children. I am writing with knowledge of the matter, since throughout all my years of study I was a scholarship recipient at the Classical boarding school of Moscow State University.
Sukhanov Sergey
Even though I am an adult, well aware of what corruption is and how great its scope is in our country, some kind of childish indignation arises in me when I am faced with such a situation. How, for what profit can one raise a hand to destroy something so good?! After all, this destroys the very foundations of the nation’s prosperity: without a school, the country has no future. The fate of society directly depends on how the school is structured and what ideals it instills in its students. And the boarding school, I think, is the best example of an educational institution in our country. No other school has such ample opportunities for the development of students, such an integrated approach to education, such happy children, in the end - the life of boarding school students is filled with the warmth of friends and the joy of new discoveries.
From a purely human point of view, I cannot understand how one can encroach on such a thing. But even if you leave your emotions to yourself: people are different, and moral ideals are everyone’s personal business, but how can people like Isaak Iosifovich Kalina, who allowed such arbitrariness and lawlessness, be allowed into the management of education? And where is the mayor of Moscow really looking, so busy with the elections??
Purely out of curiosity: when the heads of the gymnasium are invited to visit, they are treated friendly, given food and water, do they also declare their intention to usurp the property of the owners of the house and, imposingly crossing their legs, take it for themselves? Grown-ups, what kind of example are you setting for children?
Template break. Who would have thought that for a public school? It turns out that it happens. By the way, as I understand it, it’s very convenient. A sort of wolf in sheep's clothing. Under cover. Although in fact everything is logical - a private individual, of course, is more interested in the disinterested implementation of his own idea than a person acting as the director of a gymnasium. If you wanted profit, you got it. Just too ugly a story
When I learned about the situation between Gymnasium No. 1588 and the Classical Boarding School of Moscow State University, I experienced a real shock. And I’m shocked not only because I was a boarding school student in high school, but also as an ordinary person looking at this “lawlessness” from the outside. Nowadays, we often hear from the lips of high-ranking government officials about the priority of education in our country, the inadmissibility of limiting or eliminating competition in the field of education, and other sayings, especially as slogans for their political programs. But how are these slogans implemented in practice, on the ground? It's immediately clear how unconvincing they sound when tested. It’s unconvincing because there are so many unpatched holes in the current system of our education: corruption, arbitrariness of local officials, ubiquitous administrative resources and connections - which decide everything here too! And people holding leadership positions in our schools completely forget about the most important thing - the students who are forced to suffer because of this arbitrariness.
I sincerely hope that the authorities will not indulge in this situation and will be able to force or coerce corrupt officials to justice and help the gymnasium students continue their education!
Moscow, as you know, does not believe in tears. And now, apparently, even the tears of children.
Who would not agree that today in Russia it is not even education that needs to be resurrected, but upbringing in the first place? Isn’t it obvious that the decline in the country will not stop if children are deprived of the opportunity to be versatile, culturally developed individuals, polite and literate people. This is how the Boarding House raised us - the absolute Standard of an educational institution, which all schools should be guided by. Gulnaz Ivanovna Sotnikova raised us as People. With simple human values at the head of the table.
To this day, I am in the dark about who is in our class and how much they paid for tuition, and who is not. Now I understand that we didn’t even think about it... There was no time! I studied vocals, dancing, painting, wrote and translated poetry, studied English, French and Arabic. An absolutely real modern person, I spent my extracurricular leisure time in the best traditions of noble educational institutions. At school there were etiquette lessons that were atypical for Moscow schools. We were taught how to walk, sit down, use cutlery, speak, speak in public, and write business letters. I never thought that these skills would one day come in handy for such an outrageous reason!
I simply cannot imagine Russia without the Pension. If children are raised among financial flows, what will the “bright” future of our country be like? A child must grow, develop, try to be better, kinder, and strive for knowledge. Children should have their chance in life.
The boarding house became a turning point for me, turning my destiny 180 degrees. The teachers of the Boarding House were able to convey to us such a quality of knowledge that the results of the entrance exams were high enough to get into budget places at Moscow State University - the best university in the country.
I wish every child to feel what it means to be a student of such a unique school as the Boarding House! What does it mean to feel the most gifted, talented and most importantly - loved.
People, wake up! Children are not a business. Countries and cities that imposingly allow themselves to think differently cannot have a future by definition.
I choose an educated generation and a bright future for Russia and its children. What will you vote for?
Ksenia Sudarikova (Davidenko)
It is very sad to read about what is happening now. The boarding house has always taken care of children, both in the field of education and in the field of creativity, personal development and leisure. The school had excellent teachers, many from Moscow State University, who gave excellent knowledge. Absolutely everyone had equal access to classes/courses, although children studied at the school both on a paid and free basis, and children from all over Russia. In addition to academics, the boarding school provided a unique and unforgettable holiday experience that no other school offers. There was always an atmosphere at school in which a child’s request or problem never went unattended not only by the teaching staff, but also by their peers. We had the most excellent system of self-government, a boarding house council with a chairman and “ministers”. I remember how we came to elementary school students, helped with their homework, and talked to them. There was also a system of patronage; each child had his own Senior friend. There is no such thing in any school. I studied at the boarding school for 5 years (from 7th grade) and we were always adjacent to another school, but I could never even imagine what such a neighborhood could turn out for the boarding house. I am sure that the authorities will sort it out and stop such chaos. We need to write to the mayor of Moscow or the President of Russia...
Polina Bedoshvili
It's all very sad. And, as they have already said correctly, children are not to blame for anything. It’s amazing to what extent human greed reaches: “dead souls”, payment for those classes that the boarding school gave to its students for free, gigantic salaries, appropriation of other people’s property... Isn’t the director then ashamed to look the school students in the eyes?
I went to the boarding house’s website and watched videos from the festive events – really talented children. The educational program is original, its own food culture, ideology. Apparently, it's a really good school.
Everything that happens happens for the better. And God grant that with the new school year a new life begins for the boarding school and that new students will be able to receive the same thing that this school once gave me.
I am one of those pupils and graduates of the Classic boarding school mentioned in this article, whose parents were not able to pay for their child’s education in a private school. Moreover, if I studied in a regular public school, my family would not be able to pay for the so-called additional education (music school, dance classes, vocal lessons, etc.). But I was very lucky, and after finishing 1st grade at a public school, I passed the test and ended up in a boarding school.
Without exaggeration, these were unforgettable 10 years of my life, years of acquiring new knowledge, skills, years of personality formation. On average, there were always 10-15 people in a class. The ratio in classes of children whose parents paid for education and scholarship recipients is 50/50. We were raised regardless of our parents' income. Mentors and teachers did everything to raise us as versatile, educated and independent people. They worked with us from morning until late evening. Honored teachers of Russia and professors (in high school) taught basic subjects.
Famous cultural people taught classes such as acting, stage speech, etiquette, dancing, world artistic culture, etc. And all this, I emphasize, was a mandatory program, and no one took any additional money from the parents of the scholarship recipients. Every year there is a graduation concert (which can only be compared to the Oscars) and an internal sports competition. Every six months – travel abroad to study a foreign language. Internal Olympiads in all subjects, then participation in district, city and All-Russian Olympiads. Each pupil of the Classic boarding school had the opportunity to try and prove themselves in different areas. In what other school could I get everything that the boarding school gave me for free?!.....
As for your own building. It is my deep conviction that every school (and even more so a school that has so many students - winners of Olympiads and gold medal graduates) should have its own building. I remember we were
When we were still very young, on the wall of our first rented room there was a model of our future building under construction, and we were really looking forward to when it would finally be completed.
But the years passed, and almost every year we had to move from one premises to another. The reasons for moving were similar each time: either the landlords raised prices several times, or the public school with which we were housed in the same building
Having received major repairs from the boarding house, she declared that we were oppressing them, seizing them, taking something away (and so on and so forth), and we had to look for a new house, re-equip it and settle it in. Meanwhile, the model with the dream school moved with us...
Knowing how much effort Gulnaz Ivanovna, the parents and the boarding school students themselves spent on the construction of my school, this indescribable atmosphere in which I grew up, it was very painful for me to read this article. In the photo in the article
a sofa confiscated by the gymnasium management is visible. This is not just a sofa, it is a memory. I personally, together with my classmates and Gulnaz Ivanovna, went to choose it for arranging our bedrooms 8 years ago. Everything was bought with the money of our parents for us, the then students, our younger brothers and sisters, friends and acquaintances, in a word, the future generation of boarding school students.
Since the opportunity has presented itself, I would really like to address the Moscow government and the acting mayor of Moscow Sergei Sobyanin.
Dear Sergei Semenovich! Please pay attention to the problem at my school. Well, you can’t deprive children of the opportunity to receive SUCH an education in Moscow! If it is not possible to allocate your own building to the boarding house (although, it seems to me, the boarding house has suffered and deserved it for a long time), do not allow officials from the Moscow Department of Education to stop the educational process at the school. Without equipped classrooms and furniture (its own furniture, illegally taken by the gymnasium management), it will be difficult for the school to obtain a license. What do children have to do with it?? We really want the Department of Education to stop interfering in the work of investigative bodies. Since a case has been opened and an investigation is underway, let it proceed honestly.
And my family and I wish the management of the Classic boarding school, its students and their parents strength and patience!
Marianna Kukharova,
Pupil and graduate of the Classic boarding school
Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov
1998-2007
How nice it is to see familiar names and surnames in the comments under this article)) This once again proves that the main thing is not the walls of the establishment, but the atmosphere and fortitude! It is very significant that graduates remain caring half a decade after graduation, and no one can take this away from us, dear friends!
I graduated from the Classical boarding school of Moscow State University in 2008, and only God knows how grateful I am to this educational institution and the personal participation of Gulnaz Ivanovna in my life! I was a girl from an ordinary Moscow family, but with a great desire to achieve a lot in life, and after testing, Gulnaz Ivanovna made me a scholarship holder and gave me a start in life. She believed in me, and one of my first victories was admission to Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov after completing grades 10-11 in one academic year.
For me, to THIS DAY, the boarding school is not just a school, but an alma mater, standing on the same level as Moscow University! We were not divided into a gymnasium and a boarding school, all the children studied, were friends, prepared for the holidays (oh, what pleasant memories!), danced, went on excursions all together! And how painful it is to hear that students today are becoming hostages of a situation where some “adults” play dirty games...((
http://otkrytoe-pismo.net/list.php?id=1342
http://news.mail.ru/inregions/moscow/90/incident/13409682/
I am sure that the Moscow government and Sergei Sobyanin will sort out this ugly situation, which can only be called a “raider takeover.”
Galia Khairullina
I apologize for the typos in the comments above: I wrote out of emotion. The current situation cannot leave indifferent any person who knows what the Classical boarding school of Moscow State University is.
Guys, let's get to the essence of the problem without getting personal. Let’s not turn the discussion into an election platform... I believe that we need to contact the mayor, the patriarch, and the president. I'm sure everyone will respond.
What’s most interesting is that I saw the new building of the guesthouse: the renovation is even better, in the courtyard there is a beautiful garden with a pond in which red and gold Japanese fish swim, beautiful landscape design, and its own large parking lot.
It seems that difficulties were specially sent to the boarding house so that it could become even better. A kind of test of strength, which the management of the boarding house stoically withstood. Just like with wine, it only gets better and better over the years.
If you think about it, in fact, the only people who suffered from the separation of the boarding school and the gymnasium were the students of the state school, who, thanks to the cooperation of the boarding school, had the unique opportunity to receive education from eminent teachers of the boarding school, from professors and academicians of Moscow State University, to have six meals a day at home, round-the-clock medical care service, live and study in luxury conditions. As far as I know, the only teachers left from the teaching staff are the teachers from Pemza (former colleagues of the new director of the gymnasium, who called them under the wing at one time) + 4 people from the elementary school, absolutely all the foreign language teachers left.
http://www.change.org/ru/ petitions/bring-the-corrupt-leadership-of-the-gbou-gymnasium-no1588-to-responsibility-for-the-lawlessness-and-the-management-of-the-department-of-education-for-inaction
It is a pity that due to the greedy interests and exorbitant ambitions of the director of the gymnasium, Semisazhenova Yu.V. and her follower V.L. Kovshov, her students suffered. I especially feel sorry for those whom the boarding school recruited to the gymnasium after the Olympics - out of almost 200 people, only 6 people remained. Many whom the boarding school could not take in last year due to the limited amount of space went to other schools because they could not pay for “public education” - a package of additional services from 35 to 50 thousand!!!
And the most disgusting thing is that the only way they could take care of their students was to appropriate someone else's furniture. But to act using such methods... I wonder if you yourself are not disgusted by this?
And what, the Western Education Department is so poor that it cannot provide schools with educational furniture? Or the head of the Moscow Department of Education Kalina I.I. so going to provide new funding for public schools?
The current situation is nonsense! I still can’t believe that the Moscow authorities, who position this city as a modern European metropolis, left innocent children to their fate! As a boarding school graduate, I can say with confidence that this, dare I say it, great school will cope with any obstacles in its path, but the time and effort spent on creating a unique atmosphere, which is the best catalyst for the development of a child’s personality, should not wasted in vain! If officials do not want to help us, then all Moscow residents with an active civic position, and first of all boarding school and gymnasium students, must unite and defend the interests of our younger comrades!
I witnessed the events described in the article. I saw everything that had happened to the boarding house in recent years, and I was worried about it. I felt firsthand the difficulties that our boarding house had to overcome. And throughout all this time, I asked myself questions that bother me to this day.
Why was it necessary to put up so many obstacles in front of the boarding house? For what purpose did various officials interfere with his activities? Why did they try to destroy a unique educational institution that gives gifted children a high-quality education, completely free of charge, and with it a start in life?
I was lucky to be included in the boarding school in 2008, and for four happy years I studied with the best teachers in our country. The boarding house gave me this opportunity, but did not take anything in return. For this I am immensely grateful to him. Now I am a student at the best higher educational institution in Russia, and I again owe this to the boarding school.
But I am only one of many whom the boarding house helped in life. And when I think about how much benefit the boarding school has brought to children, how many it has given a chance to and what a difficult situation it is in now, these questions pop up in my head again and again. I am at a loss, because the authorities, in my understanding, are obliged to protect in every possible way an organization that is engaged in exclusively useful work, and to assist it in every possible way. But in practice, unfortunately, everything is not as it should be.
I studied at the Classic Boarding School for three years, and I had the opportunity to witness the transformation of the gymnasium building No. 1588. It must be understood that the condition of the school premises was not the best before the start of cooperation. The result of even a one-year stay at the Pension was impressive. The fact that everyone then benefited from the merger of the Boarding House and the Gymnasium has long become an irrefutable fact. This is evidenced by at least the appearance of the territory. Although the “façade” in this case is not the most important thing. The guys who studied at the Gymnasium were lucky. No joke, the results speak for themselves. Almost all the “school students” smoothly mixed and became friends with the “boarders” and gained access to greater opportunities in education and upbringing. They now have greater freedom of choice in the future.
The boarding house has become a truly unique project. Good teachers who really put teaching at a high level; good (and fun) group of students. You can convey all this in words, but it’s better to visit, seriously. For which many thanks to Gulnaz Ivanovna.
What happened over the past year... To put it mildly, the story is unpleasant. It’s a shame that there are people who believe that trying to commit “racketeering” (unfortunately there is no other word that so succinctly describes all the motives for their actions) of an educational institution is the norm. It is doubly offensive that both students and their parents suffered. Threefold - all this happened under the auspices of the state.
The behavior of the leadership of the “changed” Gymnasium No. 1588 does not stand up to criticism even of common sense. Not the most noticeable, but the most compelling evidence will be the behavior of the children who, by the will of fate, ended up in the “changed” Gymnasium No. 1588. They appreciated the “changes” in the curriculum and many of them left the Gymnasium for the Boarding School.
But there are also bright moments. The boarding house is alive and growing. The students went and still go to study. It's a shame they had to endure all this. I especially feel sorry for those who were studying in the 9th and 11th grades at that time. But they did great - they passed the exams and began the next stage of training.
I hope that together we can draw attention to this problem. The point is that if such actions are not stopped, they will become the norm, and then education in Russia in the modern sense may simply disappear. And education in general. And this is unacceptable.
Everyone knows that even the most powerful tree will collapse if its roots rot; Even the strongest building will collapse if the foundation becomes unusable. You and I are built in exactly the same way: our lives have meaning if there is ground under our feet. Initially, this soil is the family. The next stage in a person’s life is precisely school, to which he devotes no less than eleven years of his life. It is the school that is the forge of character and personality. Here a person begins to express himself, his talents and abilities. His future largely depends on what school a person attends. The boarding school taught us that there is still honor, dignity and kindness left in this world. When the graduates said goodbye to the school, Gulnaz Ivanovna saw them off, like a loving mother sees off her son on the military path, hiding the rare tears of a very strong person. And now we, proud sons and daughters of our fatherland, have returned from distant wanderings through a cold and in no way hospitable life to our native boarding house and saw that that stronghold of warmth and kindness that warmed our hearts was ruined...I know for sure that Gulnaz Ivanovna will achieve her goal and, no matter what, will revive the school we all love. I also know that many graduates are ready to lend a helping hand and would never leave school in difficult times. I just ask you, dear Moscow administration, you, ordinary citizens and everyone in general: do not be indifferent, do not close your eyes to what may ultimately affect your children. We are strong and will definitely resist in spite of all envious people, but because of such vile affairs, innocent children suffer... Do not remain indifferent...
Graduate of the boarding school in 2012,
Dmitry Smirnov.
Unfortunately, last year there was a tense situation at school. And we, all the students, became its witnesses. I don’t understand what the gymnasium administration sought and achieved. Everything they tried to do turned against them. Now there are no best teachers from Moscow State University, few students, poor food, etc.
The gymnasium tried to completely copy the boarding school. Starting from the anthem and traditional holidays, ending with self-government of students at school. Nothing useful came of this. After all, it is impossible to convey the atmosphere that reigned and reigns in the boarding house! I have been studying at the boarding school for ten years, and I can say with full confidence that this is the best school. This is my second home, and teachers and mentors are my second family.
At the boarding school we are developed both academically and creatively. Over the 9 years of studying here, I realized that everyone has their own talents. And it is the boarding house that helps to reveal them. We try our best in music, vocals, dancing, acting, public speaking and sports. They even took part in an ice show and flew under the circus big top!
The boarding house is a place where you will always be understood, helped and supported. Mentors can help both in studies and in life situations.
And, of course, thanks to Gulnaz Ivanovna, despite all the difficulties, the boarding house remains a boarding house. The one and only. The most dear place. For me he was, is and always will be.
P.S. This is just a small part of how many positive things I can say about the boarding house.
10th grade student Leznik Gabriella.
Nowadays it is customary to talk a lot about the “collapse of education in the country.” However, in such an abstract formulation it does not make the proper impression: somewhere someone is ruining something - yes, it’s sad, of course, but this does not concern me... The case cited in the material clearly demonstrates how this happens, who suffers in the result of these actions in the first place and how difficult it is to stop an already running killer machine.
But nothing is impossible. Fight for your home. And we will help.
One of the most outrageous aspects of this situation is that children, including middle and junior classes, have witnessed the scams and machinations of the leadership of their home school - Gymnasium 1588. I am sure that no parent would want their child to study in an atmosphere of greed, self-interest and permissiveness on the part of the leaders of the Gymnasium, and observed the results of their actions.
Do parents want the process of education and upbringing to be led by a corrupt official? So that children grow up in a school where the management is primarily concerned not with their development, but with increasing their personal capital? I'm sure they don't want to!
I am proud that I grew up in a completely different atmosphere of friendship, mutual understanding with my peers, teachers and the management of the Classic Boarding School, which was sincerely interested in my development. I am glad that my school, the Classic Boarding School, has many victories and a bright future ahead of it!
I don’t want to defend either the gymnasium or the boarding school, but the point is this: half of what was written in V.V.’s letter. To Putin from Galina Yakovlevna - complete nonsense. It’s just that since someone is giving a link to it here, I want to refute a couple of points. You will, of course, forgive me, but it is impossible to recover from such a shock in a year. Of course, everything is not perfect. But people reading the letter and reviews here, better try to personally talk not only with the heads of educational institutions, but also with students and parents. I can assure you that not one of them will confirm the non-existent disgrace in the gymnasium that is described in the letter. As for the boarding school... it’s hard for me to judge, I don’t study or teach there, but I know one thing for sure: there’s still no license, and apparently there won’t be in the near future. The children there really are wonderful, the holidays are still great... but I would think twice before sending my own child there. He'll be in a great family atmosphere, yes. But what’s going on with education is not at all clear. In addition, as far as I know, the children do not live in the school building (and I am still not sure whether there is one at all), but in apartments. I don't think that's a plus. Of course, now any boarding school student will say that everything is fine there with education and everything else, this is understandable. I know the children of the boarding house - they are also patriots. And I can't blame them for that.
And one more thing. I just feel sorry for the children who read or write all this. Some still cannot calm down about the collapse of the boarding school and gymnasium. And you are only rubbing salt in the wound with your accusations. You should have finished this matter already, huh? Everyone understands that everything cannot be returned back, so maybe you can finally calm down? For example, stop making false accusations against a gymnasium or boarding school. It would be better if you cooperated. If only the children weren’t so sad about this situation. I feel sorry for them most of all, because the chicks raised in the boarding house will never take root anywhere.
Why didn’t you introduce yourself, defender of the gymnasium? The boarding school graduates all reacted unanimously to the article within a week and calmed down and went about their business. But you really can’t calm down in the gymnasium.
I, the granddaughter of Galina Yakovlevna Safronova, Polina Kontsevova, an 11th grade student at the Classical boarding school at Moscow State University today, can subscribe to every word written by my grandmother. What's wrong with that? How can you judge if, as you write, you did not study at the boarding school or at the gymnasium when the boarding school was there? Because at that time everyone, even gymnasium students, called themselves boarding school students, gymnasium students still write on Vontakte that they are students of the Moscow State University Classical boarding school... Therefore, I am sure that it is not a gymnasium student who is writing, but someone from the administration. “I would think twice before sending my own child there.” “Chicks raised in a boarding house will never take root anywhere.”
Only an adult can write this way, not a child. Shame on you, adults, but argue with us children.
We had and still have everything good with education, with food (unlike the gymnasium), with accommodation, with the atmosphere, and with holidays. You write nonsense that we study in apartments, write that you don’t even know if there is a building in the boarding house, but you are trying to express your opinion about the quality of education. I am in 11th grade and none of my 15 classmates are worried about their certification, just like last year, when the license was interrupted due to the end of the lease and all graduates were forced to take the Unified State Exam at the Russian Foreign Ministry boarding school. Now they have a certificate from the MFA school and this is much better than Gymnasium 1588 with its reputation. And yes, as you write, we are still patriots. Look what literate, intelligent friends we have, what a big family we have, from preschoolers to graduates. So don't touch us. I know that the election of the fifth director is expected at the gymnasium (this is from the beginning of the school year!) You just can’t divide someone else’s pie. So everyone is off to the polls! I return your words to you. Calm down already and deal with the problems of the gymnasium, from which almost everyone who studied with us left. And next year almost everyone else will leave, so look for new children, new parents, maybe they will stop comparing the gymnasium with the boarding school. And we will take all our property and every bush we planted. Don't even doubt it. I’ll come personally with a shovel!
We were forbidden to write about the scandal between the boarding school and the gymnasium, since any scandal harms, first of all, the image of the educational institution, and we protect our HOME. Otherwise, we, with our number of boarding house patriots, would simply blow up the Internet. That’s why it’s mostly boarding school graduates who write, not students. And let the boarding house’s leaders forgive me, but I could not help but react to the words insulting my grandmother. All previous reviews from boarding school graduates say that every word she wrote is true. And the teachers themselves, almost all of whom left the gymnasium in numerous open appeals in which they write about the outrages happening in the gymnasium, support my grandmother.
To add a comment, you must log in to the site using your username and password.
A graduate of Moscow GITIS, the first theater critic of Bashkiria, Honored Artist of Bashkortostan, member of the Union of Journalists and the Union of Theater Workers of Russia.
Education
She received two higher educations: economics (MSU) and technical (MTUSI), as well as a secondary specialized music degree in piano. Speaks English, Spanish, studies French, Chinese.
Labor and business activities
Until 1989, she worked as an assistant in the Sverdlovsk district committee of the Komsomol of Moscow. Since 1989 - director of an independent structural unit at the Tropos construction company.
In 1990, she founded and headed the Vertex Medical Multidisciplinary Center, which over time grew into the Vertex JSC holding, consisting of:
- medical company "Vertex"
- construction company "Vertex-Building",
- trading company "Vertex Trading",
- consulting company "Vertex-Trust",
- travel company "Vertex - Tour",
- cargo-passenger airline "Vertex-Aero".
Veteran of domestic entrepreneurship. Her name was included in the “Golden Book of Moscow Entrepreneurship”, in the catalogs “Russian Business Elite”, “Famous Women of Russia”, etc.
Social activity
In 1997, she was appointed president of the Russian Charitable Foundation for Reconciliation and Concord, established by Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II, in which she continues to work at present. The Foundation's Board of Trustees, under the leadership of the Patriarch, includes well-known figures of science and culture and heads of other faiths. The Foundation has never enjoyed any benefits and is financed exclusively from the funds of G.I. Sotnikova.
From 1997 to the present day - President of the Classical Boarding House of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov, the founders of which were the Foundation for Reconciliation and Concord of Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II and Moscow State University represented by the rector Viktor Antonovich Sadovnichy.
From 1997 to 2003, he was the director of many major events in the church life of Russia (the 2000th anniversary of the Nativity of Christ, a concert in Moscow in honor of the 1700th anniversary of the adoption of Christianity as the state religion by Armenia, anniversaries of the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, etc.).
Author of innovative projects and commercial television programs on the Rossiya TV channel (1997-1998), implementing which she mastered the specialty of television director and shot a number of documentaries (“Creator”, “With Faith, Hope and Love”, etc.), organizing her own television company .
Since 2004, she has been seriously engaged in scientific teaching activities, and acted as the ideologist and initiator of the creation of the Faculty of Global Processes at Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov, opened in 2005. Author of a number of educational models and programs, including in the field of early childhood development.
From 1997 to 2007, member of the government Commission for the Advancement of Women.
For her active participation in the development of the Culture of Peace Program created by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on the initiative of Director General Federico Mayor Zaragoza (1987-1999), she received the honorary title “Lady Initiative” in 1995.
Charity
She has repeatedly acted as a patron of major cultural events: from the opening of the first High Fashion Week in Moscow in 1995 to socially significant events held by the Russian Orthodox Church together with the state.
Organizer of all-Russian charity events to help orphans and veterans - elderly people who constitute the glory of the Fatherland in the field of science and culture, who were left without state support in difficult times for the country.
Her name can be seen among the major donors on the memorial plaque in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
Provides support to a number of socially significant projects. The most successful was a long-term charitable project in the field of education, operating from 1997 to the present day (financing a scholarship fund opened for free education at the Classic boarding school of M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University for talented children from all over Russia; support through grants, including including to pay for education and internship abroad for the most worthy students of the Moscow State University).
Initiator and founder of the annual non-state award “Winged Sirius” (since 2000) in the field of education and upbringing for talented children in more than 20 categories.
Criticism
A number of publications accused her of involvement in illegal actions, but there is no confirmation of these facts.
They say that the State Customs Committee and the Ministry of Internal Affairs have complaints against Sotnikova’s companies, but no official charges have been brought against the entrepreneur.
Thus, since July 1999, publications began to appear in print media accusing G.I. Sotnikova and the enterprises she headed of illegal actions. In response to the publications, G.I. Sotnikova called the facts cited in the articles slander:
“...I don’t know what the purpose of the article could be that would justify such untidy means.”
Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II today regarded as a targeted action directed against the Russian Orthodox Church and its Primate personally the publications that appeared in a number of media outlets about alleged abuses in the activities of the Russian charitable Foundation for Reconciliation and Harmony, which he established. In an interview with corr. ITAR-TASS he called all publications relating to both the Foundation itself and its president Gulnaz Sotnikova slander. There was no documentary evidence to support this statement. The customers were also not named.
The information campaign against Sotnikova lasted for a limited period of time and ended as suddenly as it began. And although some unofficial biased media are still trying to use these materials, but with the aim of discrediting the Russian Orthodox Church, no official charges have been brought against either the Russian Charitable Foundation for Reconciliation and Concord, or G.I. Sotnikova herself.
It is unknown how the story with the “Single Agent” ended, but after some time a criminal case was opened against one of the most prominent participants in this conflict - the East Line company - for smuggling. Some associate this phenomenon with the company's struggle against G.I. Sotnikova. Today, of the conflicting actors, only East Line remains on the market, but the company is no longer involved in air transportation as a cargo operator.
Marital status, children
In my 5th year at university, I married a student at Moscow State Technical University. N. E. Bauman Tsyurko Stepan Ivanovich (born 1968).
Currently divorced, she is raising her daughter Ekaterina, born in 2008.
Son Maxim, born in 1990 - graduate of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov, honors diploma.
Hobbies
G. I. Sotnikova is interested in pedagogy, psychology, music, theater, and loves to travel.
WHO HAS BEEN INTERFERRED BY THE DIRECTOR
Court, yes it is
Recently, at Moscow gymnasium No. 1588, Yulia Semisazhenova was removed from her duties as director. The basis is a court decision. The court, in turn, responded to the corresponding petition from the Dorogomilovsky interdistrict department of the Moscow Investigative Committee, where a criminal case was opened against Semisazhenova. The director is suspected of abusing his official position and receiving a bribe.
Since March of this year, when law enforcement officers first appeared at the gymnasium, the educational institution has been in a fever - no one really knows what exactly Semisazhenova is accused of, which gives rise to all sorts of rumors. The most intriguing thing is that the person involved in the case remains in the dark. With marked banknotes, no one grabbed Yulia Viktorovna by the hand, they did not call her to the “state house” and did not voice any complaints.
For several months, the head of the gymnasium, included in the ranking of the best educational institutions of the capital's Department of Education, winner of the "Teacher of the Year 1999" competition, member of the All-Russian Pedagogical Club "First of September" has been in a position of no guilt. One gets the impression that the mentioned case is just an excuse to get rid of the unwanted director, who became a victim of a conflict between the gymnasium and the Moscow Department of Education on the one hand, and the owners of the Lomonosov Moscow State University Classical boarding school and their powerful patrons, on the other.
Ahead of the rest of the planet...
The specificity of gymnasium No. 1588 is that for a long time it coexists with the above-mentioned private educational institution. The classical boarding school occupied part of the premises of the gymnasium; boarders studied together with gymnasium students, of course, receiving additional classes, food, and accommodation. The pleasure is not cheap - according to parents, the “entrance ticket” to the boarding house costs 900,000 thousand rubles, the annual fee is 100 thousand rubles, the monthly fee is 80 thousand. For this money, a boarding school graduate receives a certificate of completion... from a gymnasium. What do you want: the boarding house does not have a license to carry out educational activities. The establishment’s website, however, lists the accreditation number. The catch is that it is impossible to obtain accreditation without a license...
However, there is enough information on the boarding house’s website that raises puzzling questions. For example, the following statement: “In recent years, we have been ranked 5th in the “best private school in the world” ranking.” Sounds impressive! After all, in the United States alone there are almost 30 thousand private schools. It remains to be understood - what kind of rating is this? There are no Russian representatives at all in the well-known international ranking “100 Best Schools”. In all kinds of Moscow ratings, the Classic boarding school is absent - in contrast, let us recall, from the gymnasium.
The classic boarding house traces its ancestry to the university's namesake of the 19th century and strongly emphasizes its affiliation with Moscow State University and the presence of university teachers. However, the boarding house is not part of the structure of the country's leading university, and there are several thousand teachers at Moscow State University and they collaborate with many private schools in the capital. The university is nominally among the co-founders of the boarding house, but practically does not participate in its life.
Give back the chairs
Now is the time to get to know the owners of the Classic Guesthouse better. It was opened with great fanfare in December 1997 by Patriarch Alexy II and Naina Yeltsina in the Polyany children's sanatorium of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation. The founder of the boarding house was the charitable foundation “Reconciliation and Harmony” headed by Gulnaz (Gulnara, Gulya) Ivanovna Sotnikova. In those years, Sotnikova’s name was, as they say, well known. An unknown businesswoman, cleverly taking advantage of the unlimited trust of the patriarch, literally overnight became an unusually influential figure not only in church circles, but also in the corridors of supreme power.
However, Ms. Sotnikova’s fame had a specific coloring. In 1993-99, Gulnaz Ivanovna was involved in at least five criminal cases, mainly related to violations of customs rules by her companies. However, all cases were terminated under various pretexts. To these should be added the recent criminal case regarding non-payment of taxes by the Classic boarding house, which, as you might guess, conveniently collapsed.
Perhaps Ms. Sotnikova became a victim of competitors, and you should not trust the slander of ill-wishers who claim that the charitable foundation is an ordinary “cover” for a dubious business, a way to evade taxes. Gulnaz Ivanovna herself, in one of her rare interviews, was upset that “not everyone is ready to believe in the selflessness of someone’s good deeds and actions.”
I want to believe in selflessness if the facts do not prevent it. For example, the following fact. Last year, the Khamovnichesky Court of Moscow refused to seize property worth 91 million rubles from the Moscow Patriarchate. Ms. Sotnikova filed a lawsuit in order to return pieces of furniture that allegedly belonged to her. Agree that litigiousness with a respected organization, to which Ms. Sotnikova owes so much, does not go well with selflessness, and at the same time with “reconciliation and agreement.”
Moreover, the amount stated in the claim is a mere trifle for Gulnaz Ivanovna. It is not customary to count other people's money, unless people show off their abundance. Judge for yourself. … “Moscow probably froze at the sight of such a magnificent wedding procession: huge black limousines with the groom’s friends and the same, but snow-white ones for the bridesmaids, a series of mattely shining executive class cars, also exquisitely decorated…. This auto splendor was crowned by a luxurious retro car... and the cortege was closed by a large crane machine from Mosfilm, the design of which allowed the operator to film what was happening from all sides, while a helicopter with a camera circled high in the sky.”
This is just a small fraction of the delight of the unknown chronicler of the capital's glamor about the wedding of Maxim Sotnikov, the son of Gulnaz Ivanovna, which took place in November 2011. By the way, Mr. Sotnikov, being a 21-year-old student, became the chairman of the Reconciliation and Harmony Foundation and the head of the Academy of Arts of the Classical Boarding School.
But let's go back to the recent past. The charitable institution was not established in the Polyany sanatorium. At the beginning of the 2000s, by order of the head of the Moscow Department of Education, the boarding house occupied one of the three buildings of the sanatorium-forest school No. 9, where 180 children suffering from borderline mental disorders studied and lived. Apparently, Gulnaz Ivanovna liked the place, and the Moscow City Duma decided to close the school and transfer its territory and buildings to the jurisdiction of the Classic boarding school.
Throwing sick children onto the street for the sake of the children of the rich and high-ranking patrons is quite in the spirit of new Russian charity and mercy. Only the story turned out to be too ugly, and the boarding house, once again, found itself in search of shelter. But kind people, as always, came to the rescue, and Ms. Sotnikova’s institution was eventually “moved” to gymnasium No. 1588.
Divorce and maiden name
When Yulia Semisazhenova came to gymnasium No. 1588, coexistence with the boarding school continued for several years, which made it possible to extract certain dividends. The boarding house paid for some joint activities, and high school students could attend additional classes for a fee. The staff of the gymnasium, including Yulia Viktorovna herself, taught at the boarding school - extra extra work, as you understand, is never superfluous. However, serious problems also arose, primarily due to the fact that “first” and “second” class students found themselves in a single educational space. There were scandals: the boarding school presented parents of high school students with huge bills for the child accidentally eating “paid” yogurt or drinking compote, for the hours that the boarding teacher spent with him. In such cases, parents had to seek protection in court.
The relationship between the “private owner” and the “state employee” finally deteriorated in the summer of 2012, when an inspection by the Department of Education recorded that the lease agreements with the gymnasium were not concluded properly, in addition, the boarding house in fact uses a significantly larger area. An unsightly picture emerged: a private company, without a license, exploits state property, paying only for utilities, and even then to a limited extent. Occupying the premises of the gymnasium, the Classical boarding school did not pay anything at all to the Department of Education for a year and a half. Keeping in mind the sums that the owners of the boarding house collect from the parents of their students, it turns out very ugly. But this is the moral side of the situation, and there is also the legal side. Lawyers note that, in addition to illegal business, the actions of the boarding house contain signs of a crime under Art. 165 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - causing property damage to the owner or other owner of property by deception or abuse of trust.
Director Semisazhenova was faced with a choice - either continue to listen to the urgent recommendations of high-ranking patrons of the boarding house and not pay attention to violations, risking being extreme if something happens; or, based on the conclusion of the inspection, restore order in the gymnasium. In this situation, with the support of district and city structures, the prefecture of the UAB, the leadership of the gymnasium took a tough position. To begin with, clearly divide the territory between a private and a public school. But the ultimate goal - to get rid of the uninvited guest - was not a sealed secret.
Bets are placed
We have mentioned more than once the powerful intercessors of Gulnaz Ivanovna, so the reader has the right to demand specifics. What can I say... Let us only note that it is hardly by chance that among the guests of Mr. Sotnikov’s enchanting wedding were Lyubov Kezina and Zinaida Dragunkina. Ms. Kezina headed the capital's Department of Education for a long time, and is now an adviser-mentor to the mayor of Moscow. Ms. Dragunkina was a deputy of the Moscow City Duma, where she oversaw the direction of “Protection of the rights of the family, women and children,” and now heads the Federation Council Committee on Education. In recent years, many of Gulnaz Ivanovna’s friends have become “downed pilots,” but she still has good connections, including in law enforcement agencies.
Today, a lot, if not everything, is at stake for Ms. Sotnikova. She understands perfectly well that a gymnasium will survive without a boarding school, but a boarding school without a gymnasium is doomed. There is a struggle not for life, but for death. A fight in which any means are good. From radical ones, such as criminal prosecution, to almost innocent ones, such as imitation of public outrage. The main idea of the “outraged” is that together with the boarding school the gymnasium was an earthly paradise, but apart it suddenly turned into hell: the students began to smoke, the toilets became clogged, the teachers ran away. Anonymous letters appear on the gymnasium’s website, in which Yulia Semisazhenova is recommended to go home to Penza, “open letters” are published to the President of Russia, the authors of which clearly threaten the head of the Moscow Department of Education, Isaac Kalina, with a loud scandal.
The removal of the director of gymnasium No. 1588 changes little in essence. It is more of an act of intimidation or a show of force. It is difficult to say how events will develop further. It is only obvious that we are unlikely to see the triumph of reconciliation and harmony in this story.
Evgeny Piskunov, Anna Berezhnaya
Public figure, president (since 1990) of the Vertex JSC holding, president (since 1997) of the Russian Charitable Foundation for Reconciliation and Concord, established by Alexy II, president (since 1997) of the Classical boarding school of Moscow State University. M. V. Lomonosov. She played an important role in the development of Russian charity and patronage of the arts. Knight of the Order of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, 1st degree (1999), Holy Blessed Prince Daniel of Moscow, 2nd degree (2003). Twice recognized as “Woman of the Year” by Russian and international juries (1995, 1999). For a number of cultural programs received [from whom?] honorary title "Lady Initiative".
Biography
Born on September 21, 1967 in a family of Soviet intellectuals in Ufa (USSR).
Parents
Education
She received two higher educations: economics (MSU) and technical (MTUSI), as well as a secondary specialized music degree in piano. Speaks English, Spanish, studies French, Chinese.
Labor and business activities
Until 1989, she worked as an assistant in the Sverdlovsk district committee of the Komsomol of Moscow. Since 1989 - director of an independent structural unit at the Tropos construction company.
In 1990, she founded and headed the Vertex Medical Multidisciplinary Center, which over time grew into the Vertex JSC holding, consisting of:
- medical company "Vertex"
- construction company "Vertex-Building",
- trading company "Vertex Trading",
- consulting company "Vertex-Trust",
- travel company "Vertex - Tour",
- cargo-passenger airline "Vertex-Aero".
Veteran of domestic entrepreneurship. Her name was included in the “Golden Book of Moscow Entrepreneurship”, in the catalogs “Russian Business Elite”, “Famous Women of Russia”, etc.
Social activity
In 1997, she was appointed president of the Russian Charitable Foundation for Reconciliation and Concord, established by Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II, in which she continues to work at present. The Foundation's Board of Trustees, under the leadership of the Patriarch, includes well-known figures of science and culture and heads of other faiths. The Foundation has never enjoyed any benefits and is financed exclusively from the funds of G.I. Sotnikova.
From 1997 to the present day - President of the Classical Boarding House of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov, the founders of which were the Foundation for Reconciliation and Concord of Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II and Moscow State University represented by the rector Viktor Antonovich Sadovnichy.
From 1997 to 2003, he was the director of many major events in the church life of Russia (the 2000th anniversary of the Nativity of Christ, a concert in Moscow in honor of the 1700th anniversary of the adoption of Christianity as the state religion by Armenia, anniversaries of the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, etc.).
Author of innovative projects and commercial television programs on the Rossiya TV channel (1997-1998), implementing which she mastered the specialty of television director and shot a number of documentaries (“Creator”, “With Faith, Hope and Love”, etc.), organizing her own television company .
Since 2004, she has been seriously engaged in scientific teaching activities, and acted as the ideologist and initiator of the creation of the Faculty of Global Processes at Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov, opened in 2005. Author of a number of educational models and programs, including in the field of early childhood development.
From 1997 to 2007, member of the government Commission for the Advancement of Women.
For her active participation in the development of the Culture of Peace Program created by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on the initiative of Director General Federico Mayor Zaragoza (1987-1999), she received the honorary title “Lady Initiative” in 1995.
Charity
She has repeatedly acted as a patron of major cultural events: from the opening of the first High Fashion Week in Moscow in 1995 to socially significant events held by the Russian Orthodox Church together with the state.
Organizer of all-Russian charity events to help orphans and veterans - elderly people who constitute the glory of the Fatherland in the field of science and culture, who were left without state support in difficult times for the country.
Her name can be seen among the major donors on the memorial plaque in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
Provides support to a number of socially significant projects. The most successful was a long-term charitable project in the field of education, operating from 1997 to the present day (financing a scholarship fund opened for free education at the Classic boarding school of M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University for talented children from all over Russia; support through grants, including including to pay for education and internship abroad for the most worthy students of the Moscow State University).
Initiator and founder of the annual non-state award “Winged Sirius” (since 2000) in the field of education and upbringing for talented children in more than 20 categories.
Criticism
A number of publications accused her of involvement in illegal actions, but there is no confirmation of these facts.
They say that the State Customs Committee and the Ministry of Internal Affairs have complaints against Sotnikova’s companies, but no official charges have been brought against the entrepreneur.
Thus, since July 1999, publications began to appear in print media accusing G.I. Sotnikova and the enterprises she headed of illegal actions. In response to the publications, G.I. Sotnikova called the facts cited in the articles slander:
“...I don’t know what the purpose of the article could be that would justify such untidy means.”
.Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II today regarded as a targeted action directed against the Russian Orthodox Church and its Primate personally the publications that appeared in a number of media outlets about alleged abuses in the activities of the Russian charitable Foundation for Reconciliation and Harmony, which he established. In an interview with corr. ITAR-TASS he called all publications relating to both the Foundation itself and its president Gulnaz Sotnikova slander.
However, in the semi-official media (“... the material has not yet been published in any of the central publications» ) « an unprecedented campaign was launched against Sotnikova", which is associated with an attempt to implement the idea of a "Single Agent" for Russian air carriers. This purely voluntary, according to Sotnikova, proposal was opposed by all major cargo operators, who reacted very sharply: they canceled all flights to China for more than a week and suffered serious losses themselves.
According to professional killer Lyosha Soldat from the Orekhovo-Medvedkovskaya criminal group, he was asked to organize the murder of Sotnikova, but he did not do it. There was no documentary evidence to support this statement. The customers were also not named.
The information campaign against Sotnikova lasted for a limited period of time and ended as suddenly as it began. And although some unofficial biased media are still trying to use these materials, but with the aim of discrediting the Russian Orthodox Church, no official charges have been brought against either the Russian Charitable Foundation for Reconciliation and Concord, or G.I. Sotnikova herself.
It is unknown how the story with the “Single Agent” ended, but after some time a criminal case was opened against one of the most prominent participants in this conflict - the East Line company - for smuggling. Some associate this phenomenon with the company's struggle against G.I. Sotnikova. Today, of the conflicting actors, only East Line remains on the market, but the company is no longer involved in air transportation as a cargo operator.
Marital status, children
In my 5th year at university, I married a student at Moscow State Technical University. N. E. Bauman Tsyurko Stepan Ivanovich (born 1968).
Currently divorced, she is raising her daughter Ekaterina, born in 2008.
Son Maxim, born in 1990 - graduate of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov, honors diploma.
Hobbies
G. I. Sotnikova is interested in pedagogy, psychology, music, theater, and loves to travel.
Awards
- Order of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga (ROC) 1st degree
- Order of the Holy Blessed Prince Daniel of Moscow (ROC) II degree
Write a review of the article "Sotnikova, Gulnaz Ivanovna"
Notes
- Moskovsky Komsomolets, Moscow March 27, 1999
- [Newspaper “MOSCOW UNIVERSITY” No. 10 (4241) March 2008]
- LED magazine about ice and people, No. 3, 2009
- New Izvestia, Moscow July 13, 1999
Links
An excerpt characterizing Sotnikov, Gulnaz Ivanovna
Rostov stopped and, clenching his fists, suddenly moved menacingly towards Alpatych.- Solution? What's the solution? Old bastard! - he shouted at him. -What were you watching? A? Men are rebelling, but you can’t cope? You yourself are a traitor. I know you, I’ll skin you all... - And, as if afraid to waste his reserve of ardor in vain, he left Alpatych and quickly walked forward. Alpatych, suppressing the feeling of insult, kept up with Rostov at a floating pace and continued to communicate his thoughts to him. He said that the men were stubborn, that at the moment it was unwise to oppose them without having a military command, that it would not be better to send for a command first.
“I’ll give them a military command... I’ll fight them,” Nikolai said senselessly, suffocating from unreasonable animal anger and the need to vent this anger. Not realizing what he would do, unconsciously, with a quick, decisive step, he moved towards the crowd. And the closer he moved to her, the more Alpatych felt that his unreasonable act could produce good results. The men of the crowd felt the same, looking at his fast and firm gait and decisive, frowning face.
After the hussars entered the village and Rostov went to the princess, there was confusion and discord in the crowd. Some men began to say that these newcomers were Russians and how they would not be offended by the fact that they did not let the young lady out. Drone was of the same opinion; but as soon as he expressed it, Karp and other men attacked the former headman.
– How many years have you been eating the world? - Karp shouted at him. - It’s all the same to you! You dig up the little jar, take it away, do you want to destroy our houses or not?
- It was said that there should be order, no one should leave the houses, so as not to take out any blue gunpowder - that’s all it is! - shouted another.
“There was a line for your son, and you probably regretted your hunger,” the little old man suddenly spoke quickly, attacking Dron, “and you shaved my Vanka.” Oh, we're going to die!
- Then we’ll die!
“I am not a refuser from the world,” said Dron.
- He’s not a refusenik, he’s grown a belly!..
Two long men had their say. As soon as Rostov, accompanied by Ilyin, Lavrushka and Alpatych, approached the crowd, Karp, putting his fingers behind his sash, slightly smiling, came forward. The drone, on the contrary, entered the back rows, and the crowd moved closer together.
- Hey! Who is your headman here? - Rostov shouted, quickly approaching the crowd.
- The headman then? What do you need?.. – asked Karp. But before he could finish speaking, his hat flew off and his head snapped to the side from a strong blow.
- Hats off, traitors! - Rostov’s full-blooded voice shouted. -Where is the headman? – he shouted in a frantic voice.
“The headman, the headman is calling... Dron Zakharych, you,” submissive voices were heard here and there, and hats began to be taken off their heads.
“We can’t rebel, we keep order,” said Karp, and several voices from behind at the same moment suddenly spoke:
- How the old people grumbled, there are a lot of you bosses...
- Talk?.. Riot!.. Robbers! Traitors! - Rostov screamed senselessly, in a voice that was not his own, grabbing Karp by the yurot. - Knit him, knit him! - he shouted, although there was no one to knit him except Lavrushka and Alpatych.
Lavrushka, however, ran up to Karp and grabbed his hands from behind.
– Will you order our people to call from under the mountain? - he shouted.
Alpatych turned to the men, calling two of them by name to mate Karp. The men obediently emerged from the crowd and began to loosen their belts.
- Where is the headman? - Rostov shouted.
The drone, with a frowning and pale face, emerged from the crowd.
-Are you the headman? Knit, Lavrushka! - Rostov shouted, as if this order could not meet with obstacles. And indeed, two more men began to tie Dron, who, as if helping them, took off the kushan and gave it to them.
“And you all listen to me,” Rostov turned to the men: “Now march home, and so that I don’t hear your voice.”
“Well, we didn’t do any harm.” That means we are just being stupid. They just made nonsense... I told you there was a mess,” voices were heard reproaching each other.
“I told you so,” said Alpatych, coming into his own. - This is not good, guys!
“Our stupidity, Yakov Alpatych,” answered the voices, and the crowd immediately began to disperse and scatter throughout the village.
The two tied men were taken to the manor's courtyard. Two drunk men followed them.
- Oh, I’ll look at you! - said one of them, turning to Karp.
“Is it possible to talk to gentlemen like that?” What did you think?
“Fool,” confirmed the other, “really, a fool!”
Two hours later the carts stood in the courtyard of Bogucharov’s house. The men were briskly carrying out and placing the master's things on the carts, and Dron, at the request of Princess Marya, was released from the locker where he had been locked, standing in the courtyard, giving orders to the men.
“Don’t put it in such a bad way,” said one of the men, a tall man with a round, smiling face, taking the box from the maid’s hands. - It also costs money. Why do you throw it like that or half a rope - and it will rub. I don't like it that way. And so that everything is fair, according to the law. Just like that, under the matting and covering it with hay, that’s what’s important. Love!
“Look for books, books,” said another man, who was taking out Prince Andrei’s library cabinets. - Don't cling! It's heavy, guys, the books are great!
- Yes, they wrote, they didn’t walk! – the tall, round-faced man said with a significant wink, pointing to the thick lexicons lying on top.
Rostov, not wanting to impose his acquaintance on the princess, did not go to her, but remained in the village, waiting for her to leave. Having waited for Princess Marya's carriages to leave the house, Rostov sat on horseback and accompanied her on horseback to the path occupied by our troops, twelve miles from Bogucharov. In Yankov, at the inn, he said goodbye to her respectfully, allowing himself to kiss her hand for the first time.
“Aren’t you ashamed,” he answered Princess Marya, blushing, to the expression of gratitude for her salvation (as she called his action), “every police officer would have done the same.” If only we had to fight with the peasants, we would not have allowed the enemy so far away,” he said, ashamed of something and trying to change the conversation. “I’m only happy that I had the opportunity to meet you.” Farewell, princess, I wish you happiness and consolation and wish to meet you under happier conditions. If you don't want to make me blush, please don't thank me.
But the princess, if she did not thank him in more words, thanked him with the whole expression of her face, beaming with gratitude and tenderness. She couldn't believe him, that she had nothing to thank him for. On the contrary, what was certain for her was that if he had not existed, she would probably have died from both the rebels and the French; that, in order to save her, he exposed himself to the most obvious and terrible dangers; and what was even more certain was that he was a man with a high and noble soul, who knew how to understand her situation and grief. His kind and honest eyes with tears appearing on them, while she herself, crying, talked to him about her loss, did not leave her imagination.
When she said goodbye to him and was left alone, Princess Marya suddenly felt tears in her eyes, and here, not for the first time, she was presented with a strange question: does she love him?
On the way further to Moscow, despite the fact that the princess’s situation was not happy, Dunyasha, who was riding with her in the carriage, more than once noticed that the princess, leaning out of the carriage window, was smiling joyfully and sadly at something.
“Well, what if I loved him? - thought Princess Marya.
Ashamed as she was to admit to herself that she was the first to love a man who, perhaps, would never love her, she consoled herself with the thought that no one would ever know this and that it would not be her fault if she remained with no one for the rest of her life. speaking of loving the one she loved for the first and last time.
Sometimes she remembered his views, his participation, his words, and it seemed to her that happiness was not impossible. And then Dunyasha noticed that she was smiling and looking out the carriage window.
“And he had to come to Bogucharovo, and at that very moment! - thought Princess Marya. “And his sister should have refused Prince Andrei!” “And in all this, Princess Marya saw the will of Providence.
The impression made on Rostov by Princess Marya was very pleasant. When he remembered about her, he became cheerful, and when his comrades, having learned about his adventure in Bogucharovo, joked to him that, having gone for hay, he picked up one of the richest brides in Russia, Rostov became angry. He was angry precisely because the thought of marrying the meek Princess Marya, who was pleasant to him and with a huge fortune, came into his head more than once against his will. For himself personally, Nikolai could not wish for a better wife than Princess Marya: marrying her would make the countess - his mother - happy, and would improve his father’s affairs; and even - Nikolai felt it - would have made Princess Marya happy. But Sonya? And this word? And this is why Rostov got angry when they joked about Princess Bolkonskaya.
Having taken command of the armies, Kutuzov remembered Prince Andrei and sent him an order to come to the main apartment.
Prince Andrei arrived in Tsarevo Zaimishche on the very day and at the very time of the day when Kutuzov made the first review of the troops. Prince Andrei stopped in the village at the priest’s house, where the commander-in-chief’s carriage stood, and sat on a bench at the gate, waiting for His Serene Highness, as everyone now called Kutuzov. On the field outside the village one could hear either the sounds of regimental music or the roar of a huge number of voices shouting “hurray!” to the new commander-in-chief. Right there at the gate, ten steps from Prince Andrei, taking advantage of the prince’s absence and the beautiful weather, stood two orderlies, a courier and a butler. Blackish, overgrown with mustaches and sideburns, the little hussar lieutenant colonel rode up to the gate and, looking at Prince Andrei, asked: is His Serene Highness standing here and will he be there soon?
Prince Andrei said that he did not belong to the headquarters of His Serene Highness and was also a visitor. The hussar lieutenant colonel turned to the smart orderly, and the orderly of the commander-in-chief said to him with that special contempt with which the orderlies of the commander-in-chief speak to officers:
- What, my lord? It must be now. You that?
The hussar lieutenant colonel grinned into his mustache in the tone of the orderly, got off his horse, gave it to the messenger and approached Bolkonsky, bowing slightly to him. Bolkonsky stood aside on the bench. The hussar lieutenant colonel sat down next to him.
– Are you also waiting for the commander-in-chief? - the hussar lieutenant colonel spoke. “Govog”yat, it’s accessible to everyone, thank God. Otherwise, there’s trouble with the sausage makers! It’s not until recently that Yeg “molov” settled in the Germans. Now, maybe it will be possible to speak in Russian. Otherwise, who knows what they were doing. Everyone retreated, everyone retreated. Have you done the hike? - he asked.
“I had the pleasure,” answered Prince Andrei, “not only to participate in the retreat, but also to lose in this retreat everything that was dear to me, not to mention the estates and home... of my father, who died of grief.” I am from Smolensk.
- Eh?.. Are you Prince Bolkonsky? It’s great to meet: Lieutenant Colonel Denisov, better known as Vaska,” said Denisov, shaking Prince Andrei’s hand and peering into Bolkonsky’s face with especially kind attention. “Yes, I heard,” he said with sympathy and, after a short silence, continued : - Here comes the Scythian war. It’s all good, but not for those who take the puff on their own sides. And you are Prince Andgey Bolkonsky? - He shook his head. “It’s very hell, prince, it’s very hell to meet you,” he added again with a sad smile, shaking his hand.
Prince Andrei knew Denisov from Natasha's stories about her first groom. This memory, both sweet and painful, now transported him to those painful sensations that he had not thought about for a long time, but which were still in his soul. Recently, so many other and such serious impressions as leaving Smolensk, his arrival in Bald Mountains, the recent death of his father - so many sensations were experienced by him that these memories had not come to him for a long time and, when they did, had no effect on him. him with the same strength. And for Denisov, the series of memories that Bolkonsky’s name evoked was a distant, poetic past, when, after dinner and Natasha’s singing, he, without knowing how, proposed to a fifteen-year-old girl. He smiled at the memories of that time and his love for Natasha and immediately moved on to what was now passionately and exclusively occupying him. This was the campaign plan he came up with while serving in the outposts during the retreat. He presented this plan to Barclay de Tolly and now intended to present it to Kutuzov. The plan was based on the fact that the French line of operations was too extended and that instead of, or at the same time, acting from the front, blocking the way for the French, it was necessary to act on their messages. He began to explain his plan to Prince Andrei.
“They can’t hold this entire line.” This is impossible, I answer that they are pg"og"vu; give me five hundred people, I will kill them, it’s veg! One system is pag “Tisan.”
Denisov stood up and, making gestures, outlined his plan to Bolkonsky. In the middle of his presentation, the cries of the army, more awkward, more widespread and merging with music and songs, were heard at the place of review. There was stomping and screaming in the village.
“He’s coming himself,” shouted a Cossack standing at the gate, “he’s coming!” Bolkonsky and Denisov moved towards the gate, at which stood a group of soldiers (an honor guard), and saw Kutuzov moving along the street, riding a low bay horse. A huge retinue of generals rode behind him. Barclay rode almost alongside; a crowd of officers ran behind them and around them and shouted “Hurray!”
The adjutants galloped ahead of him into the courtyard. Kutuzov, impatiently pushing his horse, which was ambling under his weight, and constantly nodding his head, put his hand to the cavalry guard’s bad-looking cap (with a red band and without a visor) that he was wearing. Having approached the honor guard of fine grenadiers, mostly cavaliers, who saluted him, he silently looked at them for a minute with a commanding stubborn gaze and turned to the crowd of generals and officers standing around him. His face suddenly took on a subtle expression; he raised his shoulders with a gesture of bewilderment.