Viktor Antonovich Sadovnichiy (Russian: Виктор Антонович Садовничий; born 3 April 1939) is a Russian mathematician, winner of the 1989 USSR State Prize, and since 1992 the rector of Moscow State University.^[1] One of the main opinion leaders in Russia, Sadovnichiy has significant political and social influence.^[2]

Viktor Sadovnichiy's voice

recorded February 2006

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Sadovnichiy was born in the village of Krasnopavlovka in Kharkov Oblast (now in Ukraine) to worker Anton Grigoryevich and collective farmer Anna Matveyevna.

• Order of Merit for the Fatherland;
  • 1st class (April 16, 2019) for his outstanding contribution to the development of national education and many years of research and teaching activities^[22]
  • 2nd class (25 January 2005) for outstanding contribution to the development of education and many years of scientific and teaching activities
  • 3rd class (2 April 1999) for services to science, the talent and years of diligent work
  • 4th class (31 March 2009) for the great achievements in science, education and training of qualified specialists
• Order of the Red Banner of Labour, twice
• Medal "In Commemoration of the 850th Anniversary of Moscow"
• Medal "For Valiant Labour. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of VI Lenin"
• Order of Francisc Skorina (Belarus)
• Order "Dostyk" (Kazakhstan, 1998)
• Order of Merit (Ukraine);
  • 1st class (26 March 2009) for his outstanding personal contribution to strengthening Russian-Ukrainian cooperation in education and science, and many years of fruitful scientific and social activity
  • 2nd class (6 December 2002) for personal contribution into development of Ukrainian-Russian cooperation, active participation in providing for the Year of Ukraine in the Russian Federation
  • 3rd class (30 March 1999) a significant personal contribution to the development of economic and scientific-technical cooperation between Ukraine and the Russian Federation
• Commander of the Legion of Honour (France)
• Order of the Rising Sun, 2nd class (Japan, 2008) - for his contribution to scientific and technical cooperation and deepening understanding between the two countries
• Order of Holy Prince Daniel of Moscow, 2nd class (Russian Orthodox Church)
• USSR State Prize (1989)
• State Prize of the Russian Federation in the field of science and technology (2002)
• Award of the Government of the Russian Federation (2006, 2011, 2012)
• Honorary Citizen of Moscow (2008)
• Honorary Member of the Russian Academy of Education^[10]
• Honorary Member of Russian Academy of Arts^[23]

In the 1970s–1980s, Sadovnichiy held positions of responsibility in the admissions committee for applicants for entrance exams at Moscow State University. Alexander Shen, George Szpiro, and other mathematicians accused Sadovnichy of being a leading proponent of the discriminatory policy that prevented the mass admission of applicants of Jewish origin to the MSU Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics.^{[24][25][26][27][28]}

In 2004, Sadovnichiy was named “Person of the Year” by Rambler in the “Education and Science” nomination of the “People of the Year” project.^[29]

In October 2014, the Moscow State University, the Russian Post, and "The Teacher's Newspaper" organized a contest essays among one hundred thousand of Russian high school student on the topic "The person I trust". A few best essays, all of them written about the Russian president Vladimir Putin, were personally presented by Sadovnichiy to president Putin in October 2014.^{[30] [31]}

During his studies, Sadovnichiy was engaged in social work, heading the university's student committee and the faculty's Komsomol organization.

Throughout his years at MSU, Sadovnichy was an active member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, was a member of the party committees of the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics and Moscow State University, and in 1977 became head of the university's party committee.^[24]

Sadovnichiy said the following about the relation between his political activity and rectorship of the MSU in the early 90s:

In his (Yeltsin’s) circle, I was classified as a “red director” - after all, I was a member of the university party committee. And such a person should not become a rector. The rector was to be a reformer.

— ^[32]

Since December 2002, Sadovnichiy has been a member of the political council of the Moscow regional branch of the United Russia party. He is also a member of the party's Supreme Council.^[33][34] He took part in the elections of deputies to the State Duma of the Russian Federation in 2003, but after that, he refused his mandate as a deputy.^[35][36]

On 6 February 2012, for the 2012 Russian presidential election, Sadovnichiy was officially registered as a trusted representative of Russian presidential candidate Vladimir Putin.^[37][38]

During the 2018 Russian presidential election, Sadovnichiy was a member of the initiative group that nominated the candidacy of Russian President Vladimir Putin.^[39] He was also included in the list of Putin's trusted representatives.^[40]

On 14 November 2019, the State Duma Committee on Education and Science approved an amendment for adoption in the second reading that will allow President Vladimir Putin to reappoint the rectors of Moscow State University and Saint Petersburg State University an unlimited number of times.^[41]

On April 3, 2022 Sadovnichiy initiated^[42][43][44] a letter^[45][46] of the rectors of Russian universities supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The document, signed by Sadovnichy and co-signed by 304 other rectors of Russian universities, calls, among other things, for the "demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine", for "support [to be given to] the [Russian] army and the president". The letter says that "supporting the patriotism is a duty of the [Russian] universities", and that the "[Russian] universities were always [among the] supporting piers of the [Russian] state".

In response for his support of the invasion, he was deprived of honorary doctorates from Ukrainian universities in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Dnipro. On 9 June 2022, Ukraine imposed sanctions on him.^[47][48][49]