Scandal In Russia: Putin’s Fellow Student Appointed Head Of Supreme Court

The whole process took only a week.

The Federation Council appointed Irina Podnosova to the post of Chairperson of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. The decision was made unanimously at a plenary meeting of the chamber: all 167 senators who took part in the voting spoke in favor of Podnosova’s candidacy.

The conclusion of the Federation Council's specialized committee on constitutional legislation and state building states that Irina Podnosova's candidacy meets the requirements imposed by the constitution and the law on the status of judges for the chairman of the Supreme Court of Russia, TASS reports.

Podnosova became the second head of the Supreme Court in the modern history of the Russian Federation. Since 1991, it was headed by Vyacheslav Lebedev, who passed away on February 23 of this year. After Ledebev’s death, Pyotr Serkov became the acting chairman of the authority.

On April 1, the High Qualification Board of Judges recommended Irina Podnosova, who at that time held the position of Deputy Chairperson of the Supreme Court, to the post of head of the Supreme Court. All members of the Board voted for her candidacy. At the same time, Podnosova was the only applicant who submitted documents for this position.

On April 4, the Commission under the President of the Russian Federation for preliminary consideration of issues of appointment of judges and termination of their powers also approved the candidacy of Podnosova for the post of Chairperson of the Supreme Court.

Irina Podnosova was born in Pskov in 1953, and graduated from the law department of Leningrad State University in 1975. At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin graduated from the Faculty of Law of Leningrad State University.

Podnosova began her professional career as a lawyer in the Leningrad Oblast Executive Committee, and later moved to the Saratov region, where she also worked as a lawyer. She returned to the Leningrad region in 1990, 13 years later she took the position of Chairperson of the Luga City Court. In 2013, Podnosova became Deputy Chairperson of the Leningrad Regional Court, and in 2017 she headed it. In 2018, Podnosova was appointed Chairperson of the Second Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction. Two years later, she became Deputy Chair of the judicial panel for economic disputes in the Supreme Court.

As Advokatskaya Gazeta previously noted, Podnosova was appointed very quickly — the whole process took only a week, which is uncharacteristic for the judicial system. Kommersant, in turn, writes that Podnosova is considered an influential person in the judicial system, despite the fact that she had previously had nothing to do with the arbitration system. According to a knowledgeable source of the publication, this is due to the fact that “everyone knows who is behind it.”

“The appointment of Podnosova as the head of the Supreme Court of Russia is far from the best personnel decision. The judicial community itself is a closed caste, where the personnel springboard is recognition and authority. In other words, a candidate for member of the Supreme Court, and even more so for the chairman, are heavyweights.

Podnosova is a “weather vane judge”, a “vacancy judge”. Everyone knows that her main resource is personal contact with Putin; they were fellow students. The rest is rather a minus. Podnosova is a weak judge, quite conflict-ridden and selfish. Poor knowledge of the judiciary, poor understanding of the vectors of development of the legal system, lack of strategic vision. Personal preferences, taking into account the requests of high authorities, and at the same time “everything is fine with the current system,” Russian media write.

The Chairman of the Supreme Court is appointed for a six-year term by the Federation Council on the proposal of the President of the Russian Federation and in the presence of a positive conclusion of the Higher Qualification Committee.