Sergey Eduardovich Zuev (Russian: Сергей Эдуардович Зуев; born April 25, 1954) is a Russian economist, specialist in cultural management, candidate of art history (1984), professor, since 2011 Rector of the Moscow School for the Social and Economic Sciences (MSSES), Director of the Institute of Social Sciences of RANEPA.
In 1971 he entered the Military University of Russian Ministry of Defense [Военный институт Министерства обороны СССР] at the Chinese studies department.
After two years he switched to the MSU Philology department, graduated in 1978 and in 1984 defended his thesis and obtained a Ph.D. in History of Arts.
[19] In December 2021 at the annual meeting with the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, Vladimir Putin was asked about Zuev and reacted that ‘there was no reason to keep him behind bars’.
[20][21] After that the defense requested his transfer under house arrest again, but with no success[22] As discovered by journalists of Forbes, the expert evaluation of MSSES contracts was made by the police even before the affected party filed a report.
[23] As stated by Alexander Khiridgy, a member of the Public Monitoring Commission, by February 2022 Zuev's health had deteriorated so much that he no longer could stand up from the bed.
[24][25] On April 3, Zuev's family paid 6 mln roubles as a partial compensation of the sum he allegedly embezzled.
[31] On 19 March, 2024, the court found Zuev guilty of large-scale fraud and sentenced him to a 4-year suspended prison term.