Pskov State University Rector Natalia Ilyina has been arrested until at least June 7.

The Pskov City Court chose her pretrial detention measure in a closed session; the hearing lasted approximately five hours.

Ilyina was detained the day before. A criminal case has been opened against her under the article "Fraud committed on an especially large scale." According to investigators, the rector hired a non-existent employee at the university, through whom she embezzled approximately 10 million rubles.

A business Ilyina At least the tenth case of a rector's detention since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the Agency calculated. For example, in February 2025, the rector Ulyanovsk State Technical University Nadezhda Yarushkina She was detained at the Ulyanovsk airport. She was accused of unjustifiably enrolling at least 129 foreign students who did not speak Russian and were unable to master the curriculum.

Then in February, the former rector was detained in Moscow Nizhny Novgorod Linguistic University named after N.A. Dobrolyubov Zhanna Nikonova in a case of embezzlement at a university. 

In January, the rector of the Nizhny Novgorod State Agrotechnological University was detained. Igor Vorotnikov. According to investigators, from 2023 to 2025, he enrolled foreign students in state-funded places who did not intend to master the educational program or attend classes.

Also detained were the rector of the Russian Biotechnology University, Mikhail Balykhin, and the rector Voronezh state university Dmitry Endovitsky, Rector of the All-Russian Academy of Foreign Trade Sergey Sinelnikov-Murylev, rector Of the Baltic federal university Alexander Fedorov, Rector of the University of Architecture and Civil Engineering Oleg Polumordvinov and the rector St. Petersburg Restoration and Construction Institute Alexander Borzov.