Reading "Dissernet," it’s starting to seem like there isn’t a single member of United Russia (the main pro-Kremlin political party) whose dissertation is free of plagiarism.
And this case is especially remarkable:
The 2004 seal reads “State Higher Attestation Committee of the Russian Federation,” even though that body ceased to exist in 1998.
The whole story is laid out here, have a read. It looks very much like a criminal case—outright document forgery.