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Last week, the US-based major business school accreditation agency allowed Ukrainian Putin to attend the annual meeting, signs of thawing relations with Russian institutions after it launched a war with Ukraine.
By advancing the university’s business school (AACSB), the association has allowed Violetta Grigorieva, executive director of Moscow’s Skolkovo School of Management, to attend the International Conference and Annual General Meeting (ICAM) held in Vienna, but her name and her facility were not on the official list of attendees.
Her participation sparked vigilance from other participants in the meeting attended by hundreds of representatives from business schools and related organizations around the world, and anger from AACSB member Kyiv School of Economics.
Kyiv Schools Chairman Tymofiy Mylovanov said he would file a complaint with the AACSB. “This may not be a legal violation, but the job of the association is to demonstrate moral leadership and clarity,” he said.
“Russians play the card that they are friends and say they are not engaged in politics, but Skolkovo is training people who continue to work for Russian defense companies that make drones that are killing us,” he added.
In response to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the AACSB has quickly stopped accreditation and membership of Russian institutions. This lies in a common position with other major global business school accreditation bodies, as well as other major global business school accreditation bodies, the association of MBA and Business Gradit Associations.
The global network of Advanced Management, a network of 32 international business schools, has also stopped Skolkovo.
“We can see that our policies have not changed,” said Lily Bi, CEO of AACSB.
Skolkovo is not a member of the AACSB and is not directly controlled by the Russian government, but is closely linked to the state, including strong business oligarch supporters.
Several of the business school faculty members fled in 2022, including then-dean Yuri Levin. At the time, “I believe that war is contrary to human reason and humanity.
Grigorieva told FT that anyone can attend ICAM meetings, adding that Skolkovo is “private, not commercial, but beyond politics.” She added, “We remain a bridge to the world for our students and are open to all global peers.”
