WEBVTT - A Rich Scientist Falls Down Some Stairs 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:05.160 Something strange is going on. Who is killing Russian billionaires? 0:00:05.519 --> 0:00:08.760 Another Russian oligarch has been found dead. Reports suggests that 0:00:08.800 --> 0:00:12.200 he hanged himself, fell out of a window, slashed his wrists, 0:00:12.440 --> 0:00:16.880 was poisoned, murdered his whole family. Last year, more than 0:00:16.920 --> 0:00:20.759 a dozen Russian oligarchs died in the space of nine months. 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:24.640 Many of the deaths are suspicious with links to the Kremlin. 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:30.240 This is sad Oligach, an investigation into these recently dead 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:34.280 Russian billionaires. It's created by me jake Hanrahan and my 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:39.360 colleague Sergey Slipchenko. Sad Oligarch is a h eleven production 0:00:39.760 --> 0:00:49.960 for Kulso Media and iHeartRadio. In this episode, we're going 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:52.880 to be looking into someone with quite a different profile. 0:00:53.560 --> 0:00:57.000 This case is not about a rich Russian businessman, but 0:00:57.080 --> 0:01:00.600 a rich Russian scientist. He was a friend of the 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:05.240 Kremlin and he died in mysterious circumstances. The Russian police 0:01:05.319 --> 0:01:08.400 quickly swept the case under the rug, categorizing it as 0:01:08.480 --> 0:01:14.480 an accident, but we think there's more to it. On 0:01:14.560 --> 0:01:19.600 September twenty one, twenty twenty two, anatotally Garishchenko seventy three, 0:01:19.920 --> 0:01:24.759 was visiting the Moscow Aviation Institute the Mai. He had 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:27.039 a new role at the institute as an advisor to 0:01:27.080 --> 0:01:31.360 the current director, after some serious drama had unfolded previously. 0:01:32.600 --> 0:01:36.400 Until twenty fifteen, Garishchenko was the head of the institute, 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:39.600 making him an official point of contact for the Kremlin. 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:43.600 By all accounts, he was even an ally of Putin. 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:49.040 As Garishchenko made his way down some steps at the institute, 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:54.520 he apparently tripped and fell. He tumbled hard down several 0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:57.760 flights of stairs. By the time he got to the bottom, 0:01:58.200 --> 0:02:02.600 he was dead. According to an unnamed source in the 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:07.920 Kremlin linked newspaper Zvestia, Garishchenko died there and then on 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:13.000 the grounds of the institute. There are quote Erishchenko fell 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:16.440 from a great height, flying down several flights of stairs. 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:19.880 Medicks arrived at the scene of the incident and pronounced 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:24.520 him dead ends quote. It must have been a heavy fall. 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:29.160 Garishchenko was fairly old, sure, but he was neither unfit 0:02:29.280 --> 0:02:33.200 nor unwell. In fact, in photos he looks really good 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:37.200 for his age. Presumably he'd bashed his head in on 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:40.760 the steps on the way down, or perhaps broken his neck. 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:44.600 We don't know for sure, as no official autopsy was 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:50.040 ever released to the public. Moscow Aviation Institute released a 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:54.520 statement at the time of Garishchenko's death, saying, quote the 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:58.520 death was the result of an accident. His untimely demise 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:01.040 was a colossal loss for the m AI and the 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:07.200 scientific and pedagogical community end quote. Garishchenko had worked in 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:11.960 aviation since nineteen seventy seven. ATMAI, he was a lead engineer, 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:15.400 chief mechanic and vice director for the development of the 0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:20.600 institute's complex and social issues. From two thousand and seven 0:03:20.680 --> 0:03:24.880 to twenty fifteen, he was the head director of the MAAI. 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:29.560 He published more than one hundred scientific papers and articles. 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:33.960 So what does the death of a scientist have to 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:39.640 do with sad oligach and a totally Garishchenko wasn't just 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:44.360 any scientist, and the Moscow Aviation Institute isn't just any 0:03:44.560 --> 0:03:48.480 research center. Both are heavily linked to the Kremlin. 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:53.080 Moscow Aviation Institute was established in nineteen thirty so it 0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:54.840 goes back to Soviet days. 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:59.960 That's Arab Shabanian, a researcher with a special focus on aviation, 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:05.320 specifically in the context of global unrest and authoritarian countries. 0:04:05.800 --> 0:04:07.960 I spoke to him to get an idea of the 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:11.760 cooperation between the MAI and the Russian government. 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:15.320 The name makes it sound like it's an independent university 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:18.360 of some kind, but it's really not. It's they work 0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:21.040 for the Russian government and they have since the days 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:23.520 of the Soviet Union. When the Soviet Union broke up, 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:27.240 the Russian government became almost the sole contractor with this, 0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:31.160 with this university, and so a lot of the greats 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:35.400 in Russian and Soviet history went through this this institute. 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:40.120 Your Sukhoy's, your mccoyen's, your Illusians, Tupelevs, you know, all 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:45.120 these famous aircraft names are folks who went through this institute, 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:47.919 including the man who invented the AK forty seven and 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:51.279 mister Koalashtikov, he is also an alumni of the institute. 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:53.960 So that's the background there is that it's been very 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:56.040 tight in with the government, at least as far as 0:04:56.160 --> 0:04:58.279 arms production and manufacturing goes. 0:04:58.839 --> 0:05:02.280 So when it says aviation, it's a lot more than that. 0:05:02.520 --> 0:05:07.840 I mean, it's aviation based, but it's more electrotechnical. They 0:05:07.880 --> 0:05:11.839 have several different schools. They have like aeronautical engineering, but 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:14.719 they also have remote controls for flying vehicles, so you 0:05:14.720 --> 0:05:17.360 can imagine how that would be useful for more than 0:05:17.440 --> 0:05:22.800 just aircraft. They have like robotics and intelligence systems, astronomics, 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:28.160 business engineering, things like that, social engineering, anything that can 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:32.880 be related to aeronautics in some way happens at this institute. 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:37.039 It's more than just learning how to fly right. And 0:05:37.160 --> 0:05:42.440 what kind of connection would this aviation institute have with 0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:45.159 let's say the military in Russia. 0:05:45.800 --> 0:05:48.760 Think of it like any of the defense contractors in 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:51.800 the US, but kind of on steroids, right, Like, at 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:54.960 least in the US, your lockheeds and your raytheons are 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:58.440 probably going to supply some of America's allies from time 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:04.039 to time. Whereas the design bureaus that are supported by 0:06:04.080 --> 0:06:07.320 this institute pretty much exclusively sell to the Russian government, 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:12.200 who then it sells to outside customers. So their sole customer, 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:16.039 their prime customer and prime interest is the Russian government. 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:21.800 So this guy, Gusha Chenklo, he was the head for 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:24.600 many many years of the institute. Then there was some 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:27.320 kind of drama and then someone else was the head. 0:06:27.839 --> 0:06:30.039 But anyway, this guy was elected twice in a row. 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:34.200 He made a lot of money through that. What kind 0:06:34.279 --> 0:06:38.560 of connection would the head of an institute like this 0:06:38.800 --> 0:06:41.000 have with the Kremlin. How direct would it be, do 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:41.440 you think? 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:44.160 I mean, I think it would be very direct. I 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:47.120 mean the same in Russia happens in other countries right 0:06:47.160 --> 0:06:49.520 where this guy's name may be on the designs, but 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:52.080 we both know one dude didn't design a fighter jet. 0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:54.599 There was a whole team behind him. But he's the 0:06:54.640 --> 0:06:57.440 guy who's gotten favor with the government. He's the government's 0:06:57.760 --> 0:07:00.000 favorite guy in this case. So to see him from 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:02.440 voted to the head of the institute means that he's 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:05.520 at least friendly with the Kremlin. They wouldn't promote somebody 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:07.279 to the head of this institute who was not friendly 0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:09.880 or was an unknown entity. They wouldn't want that. And 0:07:09.960 --> 0:07:13.800 I think that seeing the previous leader fall kind of 0:07:13.840 --> 0:07:16.480 proves that if you're not entirely subservient to what the 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:20.320 Kremlin wants, you might have an accident. I'm not saying 0:07:20.360 --> 0:07:22.600 that's what happened, but that's what I would suspect. 0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:28.000 So, as you can see, this aviation scientist suddenly becomes 0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:32.080 a lot more relevant to this series. So who actually 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:40.560 was anatotally Garishchenko? Anatotally Garishchenko born in nineteen forty nine, 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:44.600 worked at the Moscow Aviation Institute for most of his career. 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:48.360 He first got a job there in nineteen ninety seven, 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:52.400 working his way up with varying progressive roles in engineering 0:07:52.480 --> 0:07:57.080 at the MAI. By all accounts, Garishchenko was very popular 0:07:57.120 --> 0:08:00.520 at his workplace. He was good at what he did well, 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:03.960 liked and managed the institute well when he was first 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:07.080 elected as the rector or, the head of the Moscow 0:08:07.120 --> 0:08:11.520 Aviation Institute in two thousand and seven. He was then 0:08:11.600 --> 0:08:15.000 elected a second time as the rector in twenty twelve. 0:08:16.280 --> 0:08:20.080 As Aramunmi discussed, the MAI works hand in hand with 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:24.200 the Kremlin, so much so that Grishchenko was given several 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:29.880 prestigious awards by the Russian government. Notably, he was awarded 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:32.480 the Medal of the Order for Merit to the Fatherland. 0:08:33.840 --> 0:08:36.679 This medal is a big deal for Russian citizens in 0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:41.480 favor of Putin's government. The medal is split into different 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:46.840 categories for civilians and military, from first class to fourth class. 0:08:47.600 --> 0:08:52.040 It's awarded to Russians for quote outstanding contributions to the 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:58.000 state associated with the development of Russian statehood, advances in labor, peace, 0:08:58.400 --> 0:09:03.960 friendship and cooperation between nations, or for significant contributions to 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:08.480 the defense of the fatherland. Ends quote. My guess is 0:09:08.520 --> 0:09:12.439 seen as Garishchenko worked in aviation, he was awarded this medal. 0:09:12.600 --> 0:09:16.440 For the latter half of that statement, generally, if you're 0:09:16.480 --> 0:09:20.760 given this medal, it means Putin likes you. Aram explains. 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:23.360 It's not like the Medal of Honor in the US, 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:26.200 which is awarded for military prowess and has to be 0:09:27.160 --> 0:09:29.280 passed by Congress. This is something that can be given 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:34.559 to people by the Kremlin who the Kremlin likes. It's 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:38.800 like how Trump gave what's his name that radio show 0:09:38.840 --> 0:09:41.880 hosts the Presidential Medal of Freedom, right where it's like 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:44.559 it kind of loses meaning after a while because it's 0:09:44.600 --> 0:09:46.760 just like, oh, look, all your friends happen to have 0:09:46.800 --> 0:09:49.080 this medal. Isn't that weird? Huh? 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:51.760 That's interesting. But I would then say, then that probably 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:55.760 shows that he was quite in favor in Putin's favorite. 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:57.960 It's not just reports, oh he was an ally. That 0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:00.600 suggests to me like, yeah, that's the real deal. Definitely 0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:03.640 friends with this guy, at least on a level of 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:06.959 where he's used for them kind of friends, right. 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:10.760 Exactly, they were friends. Emphasis on were But yeah, I 0:10:10.760 --> 0:10:11.960 mean it's kind of like, you know, if I've got 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:13.880 the power to hand up medals on my homies, they're 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:15.240 going to be decked out in metals. That's the way 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:15.760 it's going to go. 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:20.040 So it's clear Garishchenko was in good standing with the Kremlin. 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:22.920 He got middles Awards and was the head of the 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:27.400 Moscow Aviation Institute, which helped advance technology that assists the 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:32.320 Kremlin's war efforts all across the world. Garrischenko was Putin's 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:54.960 guy until he wasn't. Twenty fifteen, storm broke out at 0:10:54.960 --> 0:11:01.880 the m AI serious upheaval assist the universe and research institute. 0:11:02.240 --> 0:11:07.760 The similarly named Moscow Institute of Technological Aviation was shut 0:11:07.800 --> 0:11:11.520 down as it was considered an economic drain. The head 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:16.160 of this now closed down university, Alexander Rogertsinski, was sent 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:21.959 to the MAI to replace Garrishchenko with no election. No 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:25.640 one voted him in as they had with Garishchenko twice. 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:28.360 No one even knew this guy was coming to take over. 0:11:29.200 --> 0:11:33.800 This caused a lot of trouble at the MAI. Surgery 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:35.640 explained the. 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:39.000 Moscow Aviation Institute to the one that remained while the 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:41.840 other one got shut down. Is actually apparently like a 0:11:42.040 --> 0:11:44.760 really really big deal. It's kind of like the only 0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:48.840 institute that focuses on like aerospace and aviation for Russia, 0:11:49.800 --> 0:11:53.440 and they basically train everybody in the They call it 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:56.480 like life cycle of aviation, so like from engineers to 0:11:56.880 --> 0:12:02.200 maintenance to researchers, and from what understood, it's the biggest 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:05.360 and essentially the only place that does that in Russia. 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:09.760 So Anatoly Greshenko, you know, the one that passed away. 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:12.439 He got elected as a director in twentousand and seven, 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:17.200 reelected twenty twelve, and his contract was actually expiring in 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:20.040 twenty fifteen. From one understand it seemed like he was 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:23.439 going to get reelected again, but before that happened, a 0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:26.800 sister institute was kind of being run into the ground 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:32.920 by Rojasinsky. So the guy that eventually replaced him, he's 0:12:32.920 --> 0:12:34.719 definitely he definitely like gets the blame for it. 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:37.440 I found like a video on some kind. 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:40.640 Of Russian talk show where he's being questioned like why 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:44.400 is the university failing to produce graduates? Why is the 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:48.040 university like ranking poorly things like that, and they're kind 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:50.960 of they're basically pushing the blame onto him as like 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:53.680 the director for failing to have results. And that's in 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:57.440 twenty fourteen. So the Russian Department of Education decided that 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:00.000 it's losing money, it's not producing results. 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:01.000 They shut it down. 0:13:01.040 --> 0:13:04.240 But obviously, you know, all these the buildings, intact, a 0:13:04.240 --> 0:13:07.920 lot of professors are still there. They essentially merged it 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:13.040 with the Moscow Aviation Institute, and MAI basically absorbed it 0:13:13.640 --> 0:13:17.920 and over like oversaw all the projects, all the studies 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:21.600 that were going at the other institute. And for whatever reason, 0:13:21.640 --> 0:13:28.240 the Education department decided to install Razjatsinski without being elected, 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:31.679 without really consulting with anyone. For whatever reason, they decided that, like, 0:13:32.040 --> 0:13:33.280 this guy's going to be in charge. 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:35.320 So then they bring in a new guy without any election. 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:38.480 Yeah, they just basically said this guy is going to 0:13:38.520 --> 0:13:39.000 be in charge. 0:13:39.000 --> 0:13:39.200 Now. 0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:42.280 This is the guy that ran the sister university into 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:46.200 the ground, but for some reason, the Russian government decided 0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:49.480 to put him in charge in place of Garishchenko, who 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:53.680 kept the MAI thriving. The sister university was doing so 0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:56.160 badly it had to be closed merged with the one 0:13:56.160 --> 0:13:58.880 that was doing well. So then the head of the 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:02.160 failing Uni is then put in charge of the thriving one. 0:14:02.640 --> 0:14:06.800 It makes no sense. And then when roger Zinsky was 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:11.280 put in charge, he wanted Gerrishenko out immediately, even though 0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:13.600 the guy didn't have long left on his contract. 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:18.920 Initially he was supposed to wait for Geishenko to well, 0:14:19.000 --> 0:14:22.360 his contract was like coming up in I think it 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:25.520 was the summer twenty fifteen, and so was from that 0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:28.080 point where like all this was happening. It says it 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:31.560 said that there was two months left right for Geishchenko 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:34.200 to leave. Anyways, So there's Jasinski receiving a lot of 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:39.000 backlash from students, from professors. He almost got like, I 0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:42.280 don't know, mad or upset about it, and he removed 0:14:42.320 --> 0:14:43.600 Getashchenko almost overnight. 0:14:44.000 --> 0:14:48.000 Not only was Gerrishchenko removed from his position prematurely by 0:14:48.080 --> 0:14:51.520 an inept guy who the government route forced into the MAI, 0:14:52.000 --> 0:14:55.640 but he was completely wiped out from the organization. His 0:14:55.800 --> 0:15:00.240 name was removed from everywhere immediately. This after four twenty 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:01.800 years of loyal service. 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:05.600 He was removed from the website, completely gone. Like there's 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:09.320 other directors, like previous directors. So these guys were used 0:15:09.320 --> 0:15:12.680 to work here, you know, Geroshinko was completely like deleted 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:17.560 off the website, replaced by Rajasinski. His office was cleared out, 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:21.080 name played removed to replaced toward the Rajasinski's. It was 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:23.400 like overnight the news came out and then the next 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:27.080 day he was gone, no kind of warning he was gone. 0:15:27.480 --> 0:15:31.800 This reminds me slightly of what happened to Alexander to Yolokov, 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:37.280 the Gazprom executive from episode two. He had all his 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:41.600 images wiped from the Gazprom records within twenty four hours 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:45.360 of being found dead at his home. He worked there 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:51.000 in prestigious positions for more than twenty years. Similarly, Garishenko's 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:55.520 profile was removed overnight from the MAI after decades of 0:15:55.560 --> 0:15:59.720 service to the organization. His though, was before he even died. 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:02.160 And again, this is two months before the contract was 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:04.520 supposed to end anyway, so they could have just waited 0:16:04.520 --> 0:16:07.600 for him to run up his contract and then quietly 0:16:07.680 --> 0:16:08.680 like replace him. 0:16:08.840 --> 0:16:12.840 Shortly after this happened, Rajetsinski went on a scorched earth 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:17.880 campaign as the newly installed head of the Moscow Aviation Institute. 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:23.960 Immediately, Rojasinski started big and dictator basically any professor who 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:29.000 continued to protest the change or backing get a shink 0:16:29.080 --> 0:16:31.080 In any way kind of like defending him, saying like 0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:34.200 he should have stayed got fired. A lot of people 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:36.880 lost funding for their programs, their studies, whatever they were 0:16:36.880 --> 0:16:39.960 working on. From what I can understand as punishment for 0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:44.320 supporting Getashinko. They either lost funding or their projects were 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:45.400 fully like shut down. 0:16:46.040 --> 0:16:49.600 So after running the MAI for years with great popularity 0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:55.240 and efficiency, Garishchenko was removed and this lunatic was installed 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:59.880 without anyone voting him in. This guy then recked apply, 0:17:00.320 --> 0:17:04.040 acting like a dictator and ruining people's research if they 0:17:04.160 --> 0:17:08.080 dared to speak out against him. Now, Surgery and Me, 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:12.600 Doug and Doug into why this guy Rojetzinsky was installed, 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:14.719 But none of it makes sense. 0:17:15.440 --> 0:17:17.439 I can't explain it. The only I can think of 0:17:17.720 --> 0:17:21.359 is he had better connections with the Education Department. 0:17:21.760 --> 0:17:24.679 What did become apparent, though, is that not only was 0:17:24.720 --> 0:17:28.680 Rojetzinsky a hot head, he was a total fraud throughout 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:29.160 this whole thing. 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:30.480 It was kind of like a couple of months where 0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:33.720 students were protesting, professors were speaking out about it. This 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:38.560 online group found that his PhD thesis, the certation, whatever, 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:41.800 the thing that got him to PhD was like eighty 0:17:41.840 --> 0:17:42.840 percent plagiarized. 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:46.760 Almost his entire thesis was stolen, and yet there he 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:51.480 was the new head of Russia's most prestigious aviation institute. 0:17:52.040 --> 0:17:55.280 The only explanation I can think of is that someone 0:17:55.359 --> 0:17:58.199 up in the Kremlin wanted him there for reasons we 0:17:58.320 --> 0:17:58.800 don't know. 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:02.320 For a year Roja since key kind of one article 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:06.800 says rain terror on academia, and they say he kind 0:18:06.800 --> 0:18:09.520 of continued to fuck things up for the institute. From 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:11.320 what I can understand, people are basically saying he's like 0:18:11.359 --> 0:18:13.919 a fraud. And to begin with, I think his like 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:17.400 study area or whatever. It's like economics, so not exactly 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:21.159 related to aerospace and aviation. It's kind of weird. And 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:24.000 also like this is a you know, it's an academic position, 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:26.800 so you'd kind of think, like, okay, like why is 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:27.919 there so much drum about this? 0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:28.719 Who cares for this? 0:18:28.920 --> 0:18:31.639 Especially if you're not passionate about it, but especially with 0:18:31.680 --> 0:18:34.960 the MAI. It gets a load of funding from the state. 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:40.679 They're getting probably billions of rubles a year, and the 0:18:40.720 --> 0:18:43.320 director gets to decide who gets what, Like I said, 0:18:43.359 --> 0:18:46.119 to punish people, he froze at he's froze like funding. 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:48.159 You know, he can do that, he can redirect it, 0:18:48.200 --> 0:18:51.960 he can send it elsewhere, and I'm sure he's more 0:18:51.960 --> 0:18:54.680 than happy to pocket some of that. You know, that's 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:55.920 completely possible. 0:18:59.640 --> 0:19:03.280 Of the one year, Rogertzinsky quietly left his position as 0:19:03.280 --> 0:19:07.160 the head of the MAI, having caused so much chaos. 0:19:08.560 --> 0:19:11.440 A new head was brought in, and eventually so was 0:19:11.480 --> 0:19:15.359 anatotally Garishchenko. He took on a new role as an 0:19:15.359 --> 0:19:18.600 advisor to the new head, was that the MAI almost 0:19:18.720 --> 0:19:23.760 every day. He also helped students, help professors, worked on 0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:27.480 various research projects. He was back to doing what he loved. 0:19:28.840 --> 0:19:32.159 That is, until he fell down the stairs to his death. 0:19:33.920 --> 0:19:37.320 So let's address the elephant in the room. Did someone 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:44.160 push Garishchenko down the stairs? If they did, why, Perhaps 0:19:44.240 --> 0:19:48.480 it has some connection to Russia's continued war on Ukraine. 0:19:49.960 --> 0:19:53.560 After a year and a half of brutal Massacre's regular 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:58.800 bombings on civilians and countless lives destroyed, Putin's full scale 0:19:58.840 --> 0:20:03.040 invasion of Ukraine has been a disaster for the reputation 0:20:03.240 --> 0:20:08.320 of Russia's military. They're nowhere near Kiev. They've lost almost 0:20:08.520 --> 0:20:12.959 fifty thousand soldiers, had two thousand tanks destroyed. More than 0:20:12.960 --> 0:20:16.080 one hundred and forty aircraft have been shot out of 0:20:16.119 --> 0:20:21.120 the sky by the Ukrainians. Before the invasion, Russia's military 0:20:21.200 --> 0:20:24.359 were considered the second best in the world. Not so 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:31.679 much now. Putin must be absolutely livid. Now we know 0:20:31.800 --> 0:20:35.159 that the Moscow Aviation Institute plays a huge role in 0:20:35.200 --> 0:20:40.719 Russia's military efficiency. Remember, Gerrishchenko was given that fancy medal 0:20:40.760 --> 0:20:46.119 that covers significant contributions to the defense of Russia. Is 0:20:46.160 --> 0:20:49.680 it possible that Gerrishchenko was blamed for some of Russia's 0:20:49.720 --> 0:20:53.920 military dysfunction? There were already indications he was no longer 0:20:53.920 --> 0:20:56.600 in the Kremlin's good books, with the Roger at Zinsky 0:20:56.720 --> 0:21:01.600 madness and all. Maybe someone punished Garishchiko by pushing him 0:21:01.600 --> 0:21:23.240 down those flights of stairs. I spoke with Aram Schabanian 0:21:23.280 --> 0:21:26.760 about this. If it is a case of this guy 0:21:26.800 --> 0:21:30.000 didn't actually fall downstairs, let's say in theory, and maybe 0:21:30.040 --> 0:21:34.400 he did fall out of favor with the Kremlin, and 0:21:34.560 --> 0:21:38.040 he fell so far out of favor that he then 0:21:38.440 --> 0:21:42.920 fell down the stairs and died. What could it possibly 0:21:42.960 --> 0:21:44.880 be that pushed him out of favor. Well, this guy 0:21:45.000 --> 0:21:49.200 is at the Moscow Aviation Institute, and right now there's 0:21:49.200 --> 0:21:52.879 a war going on. Obviously, Russia has invaded Ukraine and 0:21:52.880 --> 0:21:55.479 he's trying to destroy the place. A lot of that 0:21:55.680 --> 0:21:59.719 is of course involving fighter jets, Russian fighter jets. What 0:22:00.200 --> 0:22:03.600 a role have the Russian fighter jets played in Ukraine? 0:22:03.800 --> 0:22:06.520 From what I've seen from the when I was there 0:22:06.560 --> 0:22:09.359 as well in some of the kind of research and 0:22:09.400 --> 0:22:11.879 what I've I've been hearing from people, it seems that 0:22:11.920 --> 0:22:15.080 there's an issue with the Russian fighter jets. Is that right? 0:22:15.920 --> 0:22:19.359 Absolutely? Yeah, you haven't seen them as heavily engaged as 0:22:19.359 --> 0:22:21.880 you might have expected from the beginning of this war. 0:22:21.920 --> 0:22:24.000 I mean you would have expected them to be flying 0:22:24.040 --> 0:22:26.960 close air support missions regularly, and they really haven't done 0:22:26.960 --> 0:22:28.920 that since the first couple of days of the war. 0:22:29.119 --> 0:22:33.240 There's still a problem, but it's not like in say Syria, 0:22:33.880 --> 0:22:37.520 where a Russian jet would just circle the area and 0:22:37.680 --> 0:22:42.240 strike at will. Right the air space is more contested 0:22:42.280 --> 0:22:44.600 than that, and so they can they can fight the 0:22:44.720 --> 0:22:48.080 Ukrainians from a distance, but their fighters directly over the 0:22:48.119 --> 0:22:51.280 target are pretty vulnerable still when all is said and done. 0:22:51.320 --> 0:22:54.080 A large part of why the Russians didn't succeed in 0:22:54.200 --> 0:22:56.119 taking Kiev in the early days is going to be 0:22:56.119 --> 0:22:58.840 come down to the lack of close air support. If 0:22:58.880 --> 0:23:03.520 the Russian fighters were willing to press the risks and 0:23:03.560 --> 0:23:06.120 they were willing to go over Ukrainian airspace, they could 0:23:06.160 --> 0:23:08.800 be a real risk or a real threat to Ukrainian drones, 0:23:09.200 --> 0:23:12.240 not quad copters, but larger drones, the birectors and stuff 0:23:12.320 --> 0:23:14.680 like that. The thing is, these Russian fighter pilots and 0:23:15.080 --> 0:23:18.040 strike pilots aren't really as willing to take these risks 0:23:18.080 --> 0:23:21.879 because they recognize that the airspace over Ukraine itself is contested, 0:23:21.960 --> 0:23:24.600 so they are more willing to engage in standoff attacks. 0:23:25.080 --> 0:23:28.439 And you see that with everything from fighter jets launching 0:23:28.480 --> 0:23:32.879 longer range missiles to Russian attack helicopters pulling up at 0:23:32.880 --> 0:23:35.720 the last minute near the battlefield and lobbing rockets over 0:23:35.760 --> 0:23:39.720 the horizon rather than directly engaging a target. Pilots understand 0:23:39.760 --> 0:23:41.960 that when they get shot down, things don't go very 0:23:41.960 --> 0:23:44.240 well for them, and that's pretty universal in a lot 0:23:44.240 --> 0:23:47.400 of wars. I mean, pilots to get lynched. They understand 0:23:47.400 --> 0:23:49.880 the risks involved there, and so I think that's why 0:23:49.920 --> 0:23:51.400 a lot of them are a lot more risk averse. 0:23:51.720 --> 0:23:53.600 And I think the Kremlin will be very frustrated with 0:23:53.600 --> 0:23:56.120 that as we go forward, because they're going to say, well, 0:23:56.200 --> 0:23:58.240 you're not taking the same risks that the ground forces 0:23:58.280 --> 0:23:58.720 are taking. 0:23:58.880 --> 0:24:03.280 Right, That's not the institute's fault, right. The institute is 0:24:03.359 --> 0:24:05.600 the people that build them and make them right, So 0:24:05.640 --> 0:24:08.640 why would the Kremlin then see them as responsible for that? 0:24:09.000 --> 0:24:13.080 Putin, he could say, you didn't design aircraft or components 0:24:13.160 --> 0:24:15.160 or avionics or whatever it may be that could counter 0:24:15.240 --> 0:24:18.480 the Ukrainians adequately or quickly enough. You lost the war 0:24:18.520 --> 0:24:20.879 for us. Look how quickly the Americans adapted. Look how 0:24:20.960 --> 0:24:22.920 quickly everybody else can adapt? 0:24:23.000 --> 0:24:23.160 Right? 0:24:23.480 --> 0:24:25.400 And I think that part of this problem is because 0:24:25.720 --> 0:24:28.720 the Russian Air Force as an independent entity is still 0:24:28.800 --> 0:24:32.919 very new. Under the Soviet Union, Russian air power was 0:24:32.960 --> 0:24:37.240 subservient to the army. There wasn't an independent air force, 0:24:37.640 --> 0:24:39.560 and so that means that everything the air wing of 0:24:39.640 --> 0:24:43.520 the army did was with the army in mind. So 0:24:43.560 --> 0:24:45.600 they had a lot more close air support aircraft, a 0:24:45.640 --> 0:24:48.080 lot of the Su twenty five's and stuff. They didn't 0:24:48.080 --> 0:24:52.080 spend as much on the quote unquote sexy fighters like 0:24:52.119 --> 0:24:54.439