Researchers say the director of information broadcasting at ‘Russia Today’ committed academic plagiarism

The “Dissernet” community, which monitors Russian academics for plagiarism, is calling on the Moscow State Linguistic University to revoke Mikhail Solodovnikov’s doctorate in sociology. Solodovnikov currently serves as the director of information broadcasting at Russia Today, the Kremlin-funded media outlet.

According to Dissernet, Solodovnikov’s 2011 dissertation on “censorship as a mechanism of social control” is jam-packed with uncited content lifted from various textbooks and magazine publications. Researchers found plagiarized material on 54 of the dissertation’s 150 pages.

This isn’t the first time Dissernet has discovered plagiarism in the academic work of prominent state officials. Past reports have identified cheating by Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky, Foreign Intelligence Service Director Sergey Naryshkin, and former Communications Minister Nikolai Nikiforov. Russia’s Education Ministry refused to revoke Nikiforov’s doctorate, despite Dissernet’s findings.