Several employees of the Gorodok kindergarten in Mytishchi, near Moscow, told the outlet Vetër about a scheme in which staff were allegedly paid inflated amounts and then ordered to return part of the money in cash or by bank transfer. The interviewees provided pay slips with pencil markings and bank statements as supporting evidence.
According to teachers and junior caregivers, another eight to nine educators have left the institution over the past two years. They say vacant positions were redistributed among staff for years, while part of the formally assigned payments never stayed with employees. Teachers were allegedly told to return 15,000 to 40,000 rubles, while the sums demanded from nannies were smaller.
How the employees say the scheme worked
Teacher Irina Bravina said payroll records could show about 80,000 rubles for her, but roughly 30,000 had to be handed back. By her count, she paid 100,500 rubles in 2019 and 112,950 rubles in 2020. Her colleague Rodika Pushkash said she received 54,353.88 rubles in April 2024 and had never seen the salary levels officials described as average.
“If that money exists on paper, but not in our pockets, then where did it go?” Bravina said.
The employees link the scheme to the tenure of Natalya Levitskaya, who took charge after the kindergarten opened in 2015. After Gorodok was merged into School No. 6 on April 1, 2023, management roles were taken by Lyudmila Eshina, Elena Kabanova and Kristina Gorbunova, and the workers say the practice continued.
The dispute intensified after officials published salary figures. In November 2024, staff saw a report that the average kindergarten teacher’s salary in Mytishchi was 73,050 rubles; later, the figure 76,452 rubles also appeared. The sources told the outlet that their real pay was much lower, after which three employees filed complaints with oversight authorities.