A college director in Daghestan has been detained on suspicion of attempting to bribe an officer of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), the regional branch of the Investigative Committee has reported.
The official press release on Wednesday did not specify the suspect’s name or the name of the institution. However, local Telegram channels — including Eto Daghestan, Tolko Fakty, and Sapa Kavkaz — claimed that the person in question is Rustam Shakhbanov, the director of the Kizlyar Medical College, a state-funded institution under the supervision of Daghestan’s Health Ministry.
According to investigators, in late October 2025, the director allegedly offered an FSB officer ₽2 million ($25,000) ‘to halt an inspection of the institution’s financial and economic activities and to conceal detected violations’. The suspect’s actions have been classified as an attempted bribe, an offence punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Earlier, in September this year, a former surgery lecturer at the college, Abdula Antigov, released a video statement alleging systemic misconduct within the institution, including corruption schemes and sexual harassment by the management. Antigov claimed that under the director’s leadership, ‘bribes were collected for admission and employment’, and also spoke of cases of sexual assault.
‘He raped one of his students and covered it up. She was an ethnic Russian girl. She became pregnant and gave birth to his child. But they came to an agreement — he paid her off,’ Antigov said in the video, adding that this was ‘not an isolated case’. According to him, in another incident, the father of a student ‘came from Siberia and slapped the director in the face’ after learning about alleged harassment.
Antigov admitted that his decision to go public was partly motivated by a personal conflict: Shakhbanov had not renewed his teaching contract.
‘That’s his right — to renew it or not, especially given the shortage of staff,’ the dismissed lecturer said, adding that Shakhbanov was ‘aiming to become a [MP]’ for the ruling United Russia party.
Following recent local elections, Shakhbanov secured a seat in the new Kizlyar City Assembly.
After Antigov’s video appeared online, he reportedly faced police harassment. According to local media, his car was blocked by patrol officers and he was injured while attempting to drive away. There has been no further information about Antigov’s whereabouts since then.
The local Telegram channel Bashnya also published anonymous student messages alleging that corruption and harassment were systemic at the Kizlyar Medical College. Similar complaints can be found in online reviews of the institution.
Elizaveta Chukharova
