American University In Moscow: Linked To Russian State, But Fake Like TrumpU
Part 5 of a 10 part series: the Grand Old Putin Party
Dr. Edward Lozansky is best known publicly as President of the American University of Moscow.
It is quite possibly the only university more fake than Trump University.
American University in Moscow has no listed courses, and no faculty.
It’s a university only in name, supposedly to hand out diplomas equivalent to an MBA in the US to Russian students.
All you have to do today to get one of these “diplomas” — the Russian flavor of the frequently maligned “participation trophy” — is to keep up on your assignments (propaganda reading) and submit a really good 600-word essay to Professor Ed.
Their official website uses a stock photo of Moscow State University, from Wikipedia.
Research about the physical address Lozanzky lists for his university and open source internet investigation reveals the sham existence of American University in Moscow.
American University in Moscow’s physical addresses also betray links to the very highest levels of the Putin regime.
It all points to one man — Vladislav Surkov — being Dr. Lozansky’s point of contact in the Kremlin.
The Russian professor lists a tiny physical office space at Novy Arbat 15, Suite 2221, Moscow, Russia 119019 in Moscow as its headquarters, which measures only 145 sq. ft. according to this listing of a similar spot.
The Washington Post reported on the 1990 birth of American University in Moscow, and big names were dropped, Presidents were briefed and friends of Premiers involved.
Miraculously, we found a November 4th, 1991 Top Secret cable from the State Department about Lozansky’s university plans, explaining why they chose not to sponsor the American University in Moscow.
American diplomats were dismayed by Popov’s (and by extension Lozansky’s) utter lack of any follow through, and their false claims that President Bush and former British Prime Minister Thatcher sponsored the project — they did not — which resulted in serious discussions about the project between American diplomats with their counterparts from Britain, France and Germany being recorded in a confidential memo.
The school still lists Bush and Thatcher as co-founders today.
Popov is still listed as a co-founder of the still functioning International School, and a player in Moscow politics.
(Ed. Note 6/8/18 & 09/02/22: Three of the above links have broken as International School rebranded itself to Moscow International University and removed its historical backstory as seen on May 24, 2017 here in the Internet Archive. The link to Lozansky’s address as of the date of publication is updated to use the Internet Archive.)
Lozansky is not listed.
There is also the mystery of former US Ambassador Michael McFaul’s interactions with Russia House and Lozansky’s “University” dating back to his 2012 interview with the group — where they ask him about his working relationship with Vladimir Surkov.
Former US Ambassador to Russia Mike McFaul spent a day at the real International University in Moscow in 2013.
Even though it is nominally supposed to be the same institution, he reports that nobody mentioned Dr. Lozansky, the President of the school.
Lozansky’s public profiles also claim that he’s a Social Scientist at INION — though he’s not found anywhere on their website’s directory, ditto for Moscow State University, which his public websites claim hosts his “American University in Moscow.”
Further public source data investigation shows that Lozansky’s school doesn’t show up in tenant listings of the expensive office building at which it purports to be located in Moscow — where it occupies a rather small space for an entire University — but it is nearby a block of Russian government offices.
American University In Moscow Shares Space With Putin’s Top Eastern Ukrainian Propagandist
The Russian version of the ‘White Pages’ reveals what appear to be some very direct links between Lozansky and the Kremlin, and an integrated Cyber War team between America and Eastern Ukraine.
Research shows Lozansky’s “American University in Moscow” is sharing a large space in a tawny neighborhood with the Center for Liberal Conservative Politics, a think tank which is now run by one of Putin’s top propagandists, Alexander Kazakov.
Kazakov is Deputy Director of the public relations firm ZPK, which works with the Russian Presidential Administration.
Recent news in The Guardian says that Kazakov reports directly from Eastern Ukraine to Putin’s advisor Vladislav Surkov, after his emails were leaked showing frequent contact.
The combination Lozansky’s unusual space sharing arrangement with a propagandist from the Putin-backed Republic of Donetsk, who reports to Vladislav Surkov confirms the opinion of private US intelligence company Stratfor.
Their top Russia analyst — whose emails were pilfered and released by Wikileaks — Lauren Goodrich said that Lozansky worked for Vladislav Surkov all the way back in 2009:
Yea… has a crazy reputation to where ppl say they aren’t sure exactly who he works for. Americans say he is part of the Putin disinformation club and Russians say he is CIA conspiracy… lots of rumors on both sides. I haven’t met him yet, but hear among the inner circles that he is owned by Surkov. His info is too…. pro-Russian underneath.
Incidentally, the company Stratfor is founded by one of the Hamilton Trading Group’s founders, itself a CIA contractor unusually hired by the RNC in 2016.
Extensive internet searches turned up very little information about a supposedly 27-year old university.
However, what we did find makes it very likely that Edward Lozansky has gotten away with using a very fake academic credential for a long time.
Furthermore, his claims of the University’s ties to the Russian state, via state run universities raise the same specter of unregistered agency for Russia which has plagued the Trump administration’s failed National Security Advisor Gen. Michael Flynn. In Flynn’s case, he avoided registration because his paymaster was nominally not a state itself, but rather a state linked company.
Here’s the declassified memo from America’s Ambassador to Russia declining to participate in Lozansky’s University in 1991 (original link):
A series of investigative reports The Grand Old Putin Party — co-authored by Grant Stern and Patrick Simpson.
PostScript
If all of the above was not unusual enough, the confidential US diplomatic cables about Lozansky’s American University in Moscow were declassified in 2014–16 showed concern that then-Moscow Mayor Popov was involved in shady real estate deals. That’s likely why nobody in the American government wanted to sponsor his University.
Amazingly, last March there was a shady real estate deal impacting the building listed on Lozansky’s website as containing the University’s headquarters involving a former Glencore trader — the Swiss oil trading company involved in the Trump Russia dossier — and whose sanction busting activities in the 1980s led to Rudy Giuliani’s prosecution of its founder Marc Rich. Former Mayor Popov wasn’t likely involved, but the short story illustrates how corruption works in Russia, and how few degrees of separation there are between that country’s oligarchy and the international intrigues of our day.
A company named Capital Group arranged to buy the trophy office property where AIUM’s offices are located cheaply, with a no-bid contract, from the current Mayor of Moscow and city government. The founder of Capital Group is Vladislav Doronin — who used to work for Mark Rich at Glencore — whom Russian sources indicate is a company that has ties to organized crime. Doronin also founded the OKO Group, which is an international developer which just made a major splash purchasing several trophy properties for development in Miami, a city whose real estate market has the highest rate of suspicious all cash buyers in America today.
We don’t believe that Lozansky has something directly to do with this shady real estate deal. However, it bore mention that his currently self-reported address isn’t listed in public guides and was subject to an unusual privatization deal only recently.
