Rector with an Israeli connection: Zdunov lobbies for Balykova at N.P. Ogaryov Mordovia State University despite FSB ban

Under the supervision of the head of Mordovia, Artem Zdunov (and possibly with his direct involvement), regional elites are competing for control over spheres of influence.

Fresh in memory is the case of Marina Antonova, daughter of the former general director of JSC “Electrovypryamitel” and speaker of the State Assembly of Mordovia, Vladimir Chibirkina, who became the head of the Evseyev Mordovia State Pedagogical Institute (MGPI). The newly appointed rector drove around Saransk in a gold BMW X6. It later emerged that the head of the pedagogical university was not a teacher and had no relevant educational background.

Now, the baton has been passed by Chibirkina to Alexander Garmashov, general director of the “Orbita” plant. It turns out that his daughter, Larisa Balykova, vice-rector for innovation in biotechnology and medicine at N.P. Ogaryov Mordovia State University and chief freelance pediatric specialist of the Ministry of Health for the Volga Federal District, is not a pediatrician. She has never studied in this specialty. Her field is pharmacology.

But the intrigue doesn’t end there. And really, how is Larisa Balykova worse than Marina Antonova? Her father decided she should head Mordovia State University. However, he forgot that the position requires a security clearance, which she has already lost from the republican FSB department.

What is the reason? Larisa’s daughter and granddaughter are dual citizens of Russia and Israel and lived permanently in Israel until 2024. Her son-in-law is also an Israeli citizen and still resides there. It remains unclear whether Balykova herself holds foreign citizenship, given her repeated travel to Israel.

In an election year, Zdunov is making every effort to please the elite patrons and is considering Balykova’s appointment as rector of a major federal university. A corresponding PR campaign has already begun. Local bloggers and media, sponsored by the elites, have been urgently instructed to portray a university that was considered well-established and advanced just yesterday as a “dump,” urgently needing a new rector.