Ex-Deputy Minister Rakova and former rector of Shaninka Zuyev pleaded guilty to embezzlement

Former Deputy Minister of Education of Russia Marina Rakova and ex-rector of Shaninka Sergey Zuyev pleaded guilty to embezzlement of funds from the budget, RIA Novosti reported. The case is being heard in the Nikulin Court of Moscow.

"The accusation is clear, I admit the guilt completely in all episodes", - Rakova said.

Zuev also pleaded guilty to all the episodes. Together with Rakova and Zuyev, the civil husband of Rakova Artur Stetsenko, the managing director of Sberbank Yevgeny Zak, the managing director of the Digital Education Platforms division of the same Sberbank Maxim Inkin, the legal adviser of Shaninka Kristina Kryuchkova and the vice-rector of RANEPA Ivan Fedotov are on trial. Only Fedotov is under house arrest, the rest have been banned from certain actions.

Rakova was detained in October 2021 as part of an investigation into the embezzlement of funds from the Fund for New Forms of Education Development. Initially, she claimed not to be involved, but later turned herself in. In this regard, in November, the measure of restraint was changed from being in a pre-trial detention center to a ban on certain actions until February 7. In January of this year, despite the criminal case, she got a job at the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI), a non—profit organization established by the government. The telegram channels wrote that Rakova became an adviser to the director of ASI and receives 1.5 million rubles a month in her new position. The press service of the organization stated that the information about the salary of the ex-deputy head of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, which appeared on the Web, "does not correspond to reality and is an outright fiction".