Controversial Historian Made Russian Culture Minister

...Vladimir Medinsky, 41, a senior official in the ruling United Russia, will replace Alexander Avdeyev, who had held the job of Culture Minister since 2008, President Vladimir Putin said....

He is primarily known to the public for his Myths About Russia series of books, published since 2008 and comprising titles such as “About Russian Alcoholism, Sloth and Cruelty” and “About Russian Slavery, Dirt and ‘Prison of the Nations.’”...

Numerous publications, including in the online magazines Actual History and Polit.ru, accused Medinsky of massive plagiarism in his dissertation thesis, which deals with foreigners’ accounts on Russia during the 15th-17th centuries....