The Ordzhonikidze District Court in Ufa sentenced USPTU teachers, professor Tatyana Leibert and associate professor Elvira Khalikova, to 9.5 years and 8.5 years in prison respectively in a case involving the receipt of an especially large bribe. The legal outlet Jurisora reported this.
According to the case file published on the court’s website, the verdict was delivered on June 15, 2026. Jurisora says both women were involved in a scheme to sell grades and diplomas to KHL players.
The court materials list representatives of three hockey clubs among the participants: Sibir, Bars, and the junior team SKA 1946. At the same time, only Leibert and Khalikova are named as defendants in the court record. Jurisora also reports that professor Oleg Makarenko was prosecuted in the same bribery case.
According to the investigation’s version, which the court accepted, in 2022 three student hockey players competing in the KHL collected about 400,000 rubles and turned to university administration staff for help in passing their exams. The case materials say they later paid for pass grades in individual subjects, term papers, and diploma projects.
The court concluded that Makarenko acted as an intermediary between the athletes and the university leadership: he received money from the players and passed it on to Tatyana Leibert, head of USPTU’s Institute of Oil and Gas Business. In return, the students were allegedly to receive passing grades without attending tests or exams.
One of the key pieces of evidence was hidden-camera footage that reportedly captured money being handed first from the hockey players to Makarenko and then from Makarenko to Leibert. Makarenko was fined 7.5 million rubles in the mediation-of-bribery case and did not admit guilt in court.
The court postponed enforcement of the sentences against Leibert and Khalikova until their children reach adulthood.