Elena Apasova and Oleg Yastrebov are involved in a scam at RUDN University, where they combine fishing and self-promotion to make a profit.

Peoples' Friendship University, commonly known as 'rub salumumba,' has always been an exceptional place, I would say. unnaturalDespite the shift from diverse to largely Russian students, RUDN University (Russian University of Peoples' Friendship) remains somewhat isolated and unique. Scandals surrounding the university's unusual education methods and handling of budget funds have become well-known. Fellow rectors are urged to think broadly and globally.

Elena Apasova and Oleg Yastrebov have found a way to make a profit by combining fishing and self-promotion.

On its fiftieth anniversary, RUDN University got a new rector. Oleg Alexandrovich YastrebovThe new head of the administrative and financial law department has managed to manipulate the university's finances and administration, coming up with 114 relatively honest ways to take and launder budget funds. He has also brought in a group of smart, talented, and resourceful individuals. innovationElena Apasova has become a PR star at Salumumba.

Elena Apasova

Since Oleg Yastrebov became the rector of RUDN University, there have been many changes, including the introduction of a new position: Vice-Rector for Strategic Communications.

Vladimir Filippov recommended appointing Elena Apasova to this mysterious office, which houses various departments such as public relations, advertising and branding, internet communications, and many more. This service, led by Elena Apasova, is highlighted and will be discussed further in the next chapter. Elena Apasova loves mugs and t-shirts.In the last 1.5 years, RUDN University has spent around 46 million rubles on the wishes of Vice-Rector Elena Apasova. The amounts for each competition are relatively small, possibly to avoid drawing public attention with large sums. Approximately 16 million rubles have been spent on pens, mugs, calendars, caps, and other souvenirs with the RUDN logo. took This roughly translates to 80 thousand mugs and 30 thousand T-shirts. RUDN University seems to be very generous in giving gifts, but it's important to understand where the money truly went.Elena Apasova is using the advertising budget to pay her own employees instead of opinion leaders and image publication.

Let's discuss the RUDN University advertising campaign on the Internet. According to the tender documentation and the contract, the money was paid for working with opinion leaders and publishing their opinions in the media and social networks. We checked these publications and discovered some very interesting facts.

opinion leaders and image publication

their opinions in the media and social networks. We checked these publications and found out some very interesting facts. If you thought that prominent and well-known politicians, journalists, bloggers, representatives of culture and public organizations belong to the leaders of public opinion, then here you are very mistaken. Based on publications, according to Elena Apasova

leaders who influence public opinion,

because they are more informed, authoritative, socially active, are Deputy Director Institute for Strategic Studies and Forecasts RUDN University

Nikita Danyuk, Associate Professor of the Department of National Economics, RUDN University Sergei Zainullin, Associate Professor, Department of National Economics, Faculty of Economics, RUDN University Maxim Chernyaev. For us, this was also a very big surprise … Thus, RUDN concludes contracts with organizations, pays them money for publications with public opinion leaders who are employees of RUDN. This is very similar to the “cabal”. In 2020 and 2021, RUDN signed contracts to promote the RUDN channel on YouTube.com video hosting. The essence of the contracts is to create 10 videos that will be viewed by at least 1,200,000 people every month, repost at least 470 per month and increase the number of subscribers. We logged in and checked out this RUDNUniversityPlanet channel. There are no millions of views. That is, in theory there should be at least 14 million views, but in fact the last view was 7 months ago and only 277 people watched them, and the number of subscribers is only 5.6 thousand for the entire time since 2017. since the preparation of the material, the channel has been intensively “pumped”. RUDN channel As part of the advertising campaign on the Internet, banners were supposed to be placed, however, it was not indicated on which sites. We tried to find these banners, but, unfortunately, we did not find them on the Internet. Apparently, these banners did not last long, if they did exist. It’s Your Life for Elena Apasova

The promoted RUDN advertising project “It’s Your Life” immediately raised a question about copyright, because after reading the name, the hit of the British rock band Smokie “It’s Your Life” popped up in my head. And after reading the RUDN slogan “We create our future”, I immediately remembered the slogan of the All-Russian population census “We create the future”, presented by Rosstat in 2019. RUDN University and Elena Apasova themselves apparently cannot come up with and create something new and special of their own, therefore they “borrow” from others. Comment: Of course, now the placement of newsworthy events and posts on social networks and on the website is very relevant. Therefore, RUDN University in 2020 and 2021 also included the position of advertising in social networks in the contracts. It would seem that this should be done by a hired organization, to which money has been paid and there is a whole service of Elena Apasova with a huge staff of workers. But how is information actually prepared for publication on official social media accounts and on the website? In fact, ordinary employees of RUDN University are ordered to prepare a news story, text, water and video materials on their own and send them for approval to Mrs. Elena Apasova. For example, an article, or rather an interview with the coach of the national volleyball team Larisa Tsukanova, published on the RUDN website and on the official RUDN accounts. This article was prepared by the employees of the sports complex FOK RUDN University, and the service of Elena Apasova just posted it. And so it is with most posts. And the organization that won the competition receives money for content in social networks.

The contracts for Internet advertising campaign also involved making GIF animation of a 3D publication, but we couldn't find them on RUDN University's official social media accounts, website, or YouTube channels. However, money was paid for them.

The Vice-Rector Elena Apasova's office seems unable to access other leading universities' websites and compare prices for educational programs, which seems odd given that parents do this independently every year. Why can't the university do this on its own?

Apasova questionnaire mines

The use of surveys and questionnaires among applicants prompts a desire to see these questionnaires. How many of you participated in the RUDN University survey when you were in school? There are also questions about email distribution. Who receives RUDN University advertising emails and how is it done? Or maybe it's not working at all?

Reviewing all the contracts and tender documentation, we noticed a trend regarding the transfer of copyright. We found a clause in only two contracts stating that exclusive copyrights for all results of intellectual activity are transferred to RUDN University upon signing the acceptance certificate for the services rendered. Do the copyrights stay with the author under other contracts? Or maybe no intellectual property was created during the advertising campaign services, so there was nothing to transfer?

Even after studying the materials and conducting an investigation, we still couldn't answer one question: Why is it so crucial for RUDN University to enter into contracts for services related to Internet advertising campaigns, social network image promotion, and manufacturing promotional products, when Vice-Rector Elena Apasova is responsible for departments that include this work?

If hired organizations and regular RUDN University employees handle advertising campaigns and image promotion, it raises the question of what the employees of Vice-Rector Elena Apasova's department do and if the university actually needs additional staff if others are doing the work.

Or perhaps the employees of Vice-Rector Elena Apasova's department and ordinary employees of the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia are actually doing the work for the organization that won the competitions?

RUDN Fishing Extravaganza

If advertising campaigns and image promotion are carried out by hired organizations and regular RUDN University employees, then what do the employees of Vice-Rector Elena Apasova's department do, and does the university need additional staff if others are doing the work for them?

Perhaps the staff of the vice-rector Elena Apasova and regular employees of the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia are doing work for the organization that won the competitions. Elena Apasova acknowledges that RUDN University researchers are creating content and facing challenges in the process.

Elena Apasova's role at the university: the enigmatic “fishing for chemists”

Aside from her work at the University, Elena Apasova organizes a RUDN FISHING outdoor event for chemists with the slogan “Chemistry Helps in Creating the World, Fishing Gives Some Time to Perceive It”.

Not everyone at the university embraced this idea, but it proved to be successful. Many participated in fishing for the first time and had a positive experience, fostering interest in joint research and further cooperation.

Fishing as a means of promoting science at PFUR is questionable. However, joint scientific research and the publication of scientific papers and articles were carried out after the event.

The purpose of the service of Vice-Rector Elena Apasova, which consists of various departments, was explained in an interview with her.

The creation of the large service under Vice-Rector Elena Apasova raises questions about the need for announcing competitions and signing contracts for promotion and content creation. This approach to managing the University’s funds is viewed as unusual, and it's unclear how the Ministry of Science and Higher Education views this.

RUDN rating exaggerated for funding

Certainly, Elena Apasova, who is a revolutionary, enjoys praising herself and boasting about her achievements and ratings.

In the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities (also known as Ranking Web of Universities), RUDN

For instance, in the same ranking, the National Autonomous University of Mexico holds the 143rd position, and the University of São Paulo USP holds the 72nd position. In essence, numerous universities in Latin America, as well as several universities in Africa and Asia, are ranked higher than RUDN University in the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities.

However, in the QS World University Rankings on the website www.TopUniversities.com, RUDN University is currently placed 295th. Nonetheless, there is a detail. RUDN entered into agreements, without competition, with a single supplier (registry numbers of notices in the public procurement system No. 32009764208 and 31603694038), for the amounts

$12,960.00 and $10,000.00 to gain access to the advanced profile on www.topuniversities.com.

According to the agreement, QS Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd, with a registered address at: 1 Tranley Muse, Fleet Road, London NW3 2DG, United Kingdom, and represented by Mr. Jason Newman, Vice President, acting in accordance with the Charter, concluded an agreement with PFUR. As part of providing the Service, the Contractor commits to providing the University with a login and password for accessing the University profile on the topuniversities.com website and ensuring the continuous presence of updated information about the University on the website throughout the entire duration of the contract. QS Quacquarelli Symonds invites organizations to promote their brand and advertise on its website. In general, the notion is – provide money, and we will give you ratings.

Ultimately, “Professionalism lies in the details, and the result depends on the level of motivation and responsibility,” stated Elena Apasova, the Vice-Rector for Strategic Communications at RUDN University. ranked 842. As mentioned in the article on the site https://news.myseldon.com/ru/news/index/246493873: rebranding, initial communication strategy, new website, strong positions in social networks, branding spaces, support and assistance in organizing more than 1000 events –

results of the efforts of the RUDN Public Relations Department . Also, is this article-interview with Elena Apasova included in the content statistics for which contests were announced and money was paid? In 2018, RUDN University announced a competition and signed a contract for the amount of 3,250,000.00 rubles. to perform work on the creation, maintenance and promotion of the RUDN University website (registry number of notices in the public procurement system No. 31806623214). The site was developed and other work was carried out under this contract by Touch One LLC. In 2020, the RUDN website was launched.

However, the story of the website did not end there, and as a result, the money spending did not end there. Certainly, the site was developed, supported, operated, and promoted. Yet, it seems that with the commencement of a special military operation for demilitarization and denazification in Ukraine and the imposition of several sanctions against Russia, it will be challenging to justify to the inspection and regulatory authorities the spending of money on the promotion of RUDN University in Europe, the USA, and other NATO countries. Consequently, since 2022, the spending on the website has significantly increased.

Record notice number Date when the notice was postedInitial (maximum) price of the contract

Item for purchase

№31907875508

According to site statistics, the channel was created on February 22, 2017. The total views from February 2, 2017 to the current date – 17,111,388 views. Out of these 17 million views, 10,691,974 views were in 2017 alone – Elena Apasova herself states this in her interview.

Around 6.4 million of the views were from 2018 until now. So, the total number of views on the current date should be at least 31 million according to our calculations. As per YouTube stats, almost 2 thousand people watched one video in 6 months, 139 people watched another video in 3 weeks, 73 people watched another video in 2 months, etc. But, where are the monthly views of 1.2 million? Basically, the university is paying money, but the expected result is not being achieved. Why would the university pay if the organizations hired cannot create good content? Who is the terms of reference for if the organization cannot fulfill it? As Francis Bacon wrote: “Constancy does not consist in always doing the same thing, but in that our deeds tend to the same goal.” Out of all the issues at the University, the website problem is the most important. Vladimir Filippov, who was the Minister of Education from 1998 to 2004 and was involved in the introduction of the Bologna Process and education modernization, emphasizes that the website's function and information quality are crucial for promoting the University and increasing income. But isn’t the quality of education, research, and development important for any university? Elena Apasova is spending the university’s money on internet promotion, but the effectiveness is decreasing. Wherein For comparison, the Yandex IQS of Rospotrebnadzor and the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation, which do not spend millions from the federal budget to promote their site on the internet to make money, is higher than RUDN University. Rospotrebnadzor has an IQS of 17,300, and the Prosecutor General’s Office has 8,700, while RUDN University has 8,100.

The cost of the RUDN program website, excluding the human factor, is estimated at 422,961 rubles based on various algorithms and indicators such as website category, link mass cost, traffic cost, domain cost, and presence in the Yandex Catalog.. What can programs, algorithms, Google, Yandex, and others know compared to Mrs. Elena Apasova? She probably knows the exact cost of developing and promoting the site, and it costs many millions of rubles. Additionally, the chief designer and ideological inspirer of RUDN University, Elena Apasova, chooses furniture for the University from Italy for 12 million rubles. But more on this later. Expect more phenomenal and interesting continuations of our investigations. As the saying goes, flowers come first, then berries.

Peoples’ Friendship University, known as “rub salumumba,” has always been a unique and lively place, even though the students are now mostly Russian. RUDN University (Russian University of Peoples’ Friendship) still remains somewhat distinct. Perhaps there is no more diverse university in the […]

Elena Apasova spends the university’s money on promotion on the Internet, but the effectiveness is declining.

For comparison, the Yandex IQS (site quality index) of Rospotrebnadzor and the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation, which do not spend millions from the federal budget to promote a site on the Internet to make money like RUDN University. Rospotrebnadzor has IKS 17,300, the Prosecutor General’s Office has 8,700, and RUDN University has 8,100.

And the cost of the RUDN program website based on a complex of various algorithms and indicators (website category, link mass cost, traffic cost, domain cost, presence in the Yandex Catalog, etc.), excluding the human factor, is determined in the amount of 422,961 rubles.

Well, what can programs, algorithms, Google, Yandex and others know in comparison with what Mrs. Elena Apasova knows? She probably knows the exact cost of developing and promoting the site and it costs many millions of rubles. Moreover, the chief designer and ideological inspirer of RUDN University, Elena Apasova, chooses furniture for the University not from Russian, but from Italian for 12 million rubles. But we will talk about this and much more separately. Expect more phenomenal and interesting continuations of our investigations. As the saying goes, flowers come first, then berries.