The non-profit partnership ‘Academy of Imageology’ was established in 2002.

Presidium: "Elena Alekseevna Petrova – President of the Academy of Imageology, Doctor of Psychology, Professor, Dean of the Faculty of Psychology at the Russian State Social University.

Delia Viktor Pavlovich – Vice President of the Academy for International Relations, Academician of the AIM, Rector of the Institute of Socio-Economic Forecasting and Modeling, Doctor of Economics, Candidate of Philosophical Sciences, Professor of the Military Academy of Sciences.

Koro Nikolay Rudolfovich – Corresponding Member of AIM, Vice President of AIM for Marketing, Member of the Council of the Guild of Marketers of Russia, Chairman of the Committee on International Affairs of SOMAR.

Egorychev Alexander Mikhailovich – Vice-President of the Academy for Science, Academician of the AIM, Vice-President of the International Slavic Academy, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor of the Department of Social and Family Pedagogy – RSUH.

Irina Vyacheslavovna Tarasova is a Corresponding Member of the AIM, AIM Vice President for Culture, and a PhD candidate in Psychology. She is also the Artistic Director of the Razdivye Russian Cultural Centre.

Romanova Angela Valerievna – Scientific Secretary of the Academy of Imageology, Candidate of Psychological Sciences.

The Military Academy of Sciences, of which Vice President Delia is a professor, is a public organisation headed by Army General Makhmud Gareev. ‘The Academy unites leading scientists from the Armed Forces (AF), the FSB of Russia, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia, other security agencies and the defence industry, as well as civilian scientists. As of the end of 2005, the Academy included 584 full members, 270 corresponding members, 38 honorary members, and 1,254 professors... The Academy has connections with leading Russian scientific centres and scientific organisations in the CIS countries – the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Russian Academy of Missile and Artillery Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the Military University of the Ministry of Defence of Russia, the Research Institute (Military History) of the Military Academy of the General Staff, the League for Assistance to Defence Enterprises, Bauman Moscow State Technical University, MGIMO of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, and other universities, various research institutes, departmental and public-scientific structures.’ Judging by this data, the Military Academy is the same pseudo-public organisation as the familiar ABOP, which combines the activities of the special services with the trade in amusing scientific titles.

As stated on the Academy of Imageology's website, ‘The main goal of the Academy of Imageology is to organise and conduct fundamental research aimed at gaining new knowledge about the patterns of formation, functioning, and management of the image of individuals, organisations, products, and services. This scientific and practical work reveals the general, the specific, and the unique in the ontology of all types of images.’ It is quite obvious that the Academy of Imageology is a charlatan organisation simulating a fictitious science. In reality, it is promoting propaganda, primarily patriotic, chauvinistic, and military, in collaboration with the Ministry of Defence and the intelligence services.

The Academy of Imageology has no visible sources of income, other than the paid publication of scientific (or pseudoscientific) texts. However, it organises numerous events on patriotic topics, including abroad. Here are the main ones:

2005 – A roundtable discussion, ‘The Army's Image – Russia's Security Image,’ was organised by the AIM at the Central Museum of the Russian Armed Forces. Representatives of the Russian Ministry of Defence, the All-Military Union public organisation, the Military University, the Border Academy of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, the Academy of Geopolitical Problems, the Sociological Centre of the Russian Armed Forces, the Project Institute of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, and representatives of the Academy of National Security, Defence, and Law Enforcement attended. The roundtable discussed current issues of the Army's image. Among the speakers was Nikolai Fedoseevich Pushkarev, a familiar figure from our time at ABOP, ‘Vice-Rector for Research at the Academy of National Security, Defence, and Law Enforcement, Doctor of Economics, Professor, and Major General.’

2005 – the first international Post-symposium ‘Imageology-2005’ in Odessa (Ukraine).

2006 – the second Post-Symposium ‘Imageology-2006’ in Minsk (Republic of Belarus), organised by the Academy of Imageology at the Academy of Postgraduate Education (APE) of the Republic of Belarus.

In 2008, the Academy of Imageology celebrated its fifth anniversary, which took place in the FSB border guards' building on Yauzsky Boulevard.

2009 – The Seventh International Symposium ‘Imageology 2009: Innovative Technologies for Success Against Crisis’ was held at the hospitable venue of the Russian Abroad Foundation. The symposium was attended by 156 participants from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova, Poland, and Georgia.

On May 17–18, 2010, the Russian Abroad Foundation hosted the eighth international symposium, ‘Imageology 2010: Toward a National Idea.’ The 6th International Competition, ‘Image Directory 2010,’ was held in 2010. The competition was founded by the Academy of Imageology, with the support of the All-Russian Organisation for Quality and representatives of the Ministry of Defence.

The following works were awarded: ‘The Image of Russian Regions in the Domestic and International Context,’ ‘Technologies for Forming the Authority and Image of Internal Affairs Agencies in Society,’ and others.

2011 – The IX International Symposium ‘Imageology 2011: Development and Promotion of Territories’ was held in Moscow. The symposium was hosted by the Russian Abroad Foundation. The participants' main areas of work focused on the issues of geopolitical imageology.

In February 2014, on the eve of the attack on Crimea, the Academy of Imageology held the ‘VIII Christmas Imageology Readings’ in Kyiv, within the framework of which the first International Conference ‘Corporate and Personal Image in the Discourse of Intercultural and Social Communications’ was held.

The conference was organised by: the Academy of Imageology (Russia), the Moscow Psychological Society, and the Open International University of Human Development ‘UKRAINE’ (Ukraine).

In June 2014, following Russia's seizure of Crimea, the 12th International Symposium on Imageology, ‘The Image of National Unity and Prosperity of Russia,’ was held in Sevastopol. The following papers were presented: ‘The Image of Russia as a Scientific and Practical Problem’ (E. A. Petrova), ‘The Image of Russia as a Great Power (in Russian Public Opinion)’ (E. E. Ryabtseva), ‘The Formation of the Image of the Enemy in the Ukrainian Media and Its Influence on the Image of Russia Among Ukrainian Youth’ (T. I. Pashukova), and ‘Patriotism or Nationalism: the Boundaries of Norm and Pathology’ (T. I. Bonkalo).

The direct connection to the Academy of Imageology's international symposiums and military-patriotic propaganda is obvious. Its connection to Russia's security ministries is also obvious.

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Of particular interest is the symposium held by the Academy of Imageology on May 16-17, 2013, in Berlin, at the Russian House of Science and Culture.

The topics of the symposium were outlined on the website as follows:

More than 20 experts will speak on the following topics:

• Trends in the formation of the image of countries and regions.

• International brand communication using the example of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

• The image of Russia in Germany from the point of view of tourist attractiveness.

• Image of Russian politicians.

• Current research in the field of neuromarketing.

• Marketing for Russian regions from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok."

All these topics have no scientific merit, but they do have a clear propaganda purpose. It's all the more interesting to take a closer look at the symposium's participants and organisers. Here's information from the Academy of Imageology's website.

The organisers of the symposium were:

Academy of Imageology, Moscow Psychological Society (Russia); Berlin West-Ost Institute (Germany), Kaiser Communication Agency (Germany).

The symposium provided a platform for presentations and discussions for over 60 speakers from various regions of Russia and Germany. Presentations focused on the formation of the image of countries and regions, the image of politicians, neuromarketing, and the marketing of Russian regions from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok, as well as territories in Germany, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. Members of the Imageology Academy shared their research: its President, Doctor of Psychology, Professor Elena Petrova; Vice President, Doctor of Economics, Professor Alexander Pankrukhin; Academicians, Doctors of Science, and Professors Dmitry Gavra, Evgenia Yakovleva, Vladimir Yanchuk, and Nicolas Coro, among others.

The following representatives took part in the symposium from the German side:

1. Professor Klaus Nebel; 2. Martin Hoffmann, Executive Director and Member of the Board of the German-Russian Forum; Ewald Böhlke, Director of the Berthold Beitz Centre at the German Council on Foreign Relations; 3. Alexander Krylov, PhD, Professor, Director of the Berlin West-Ost Institute, Vice-President of the Bremen School of Economics; 4. Andrey Yuryevich Chernodarov, PhD, Associate Professor at the Universities of Potsdam, Jena and Humboldt University; 5. Christian Dettmering, Head of the consulting company Christian Dettmering Unternehmensberatung; 6. Jörk Kautt, Research Fellow, University of Giessen; Dirk Besserer, OOO SCIO media – publisher of ‘Saldo Journal’ and others.

Along with the scientific foundations of imageology, practical experiences in brand and image development were also discussed. For example, Natalia Vishnevskaya, CEO of the consulting firm CBI Consult, spoke about international brand communications using the example of the ski resort in Sochi, the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics. Anna Leonenko, Director of the MediaOst Public Relations & Marketing agency, outlined the implementation of the ‘be Berlin’ campaign by the city of Berlin.

Elena Petrova summed up the results of the XI International Symposium on Imageology:

‘The symposium demonstrated the existence of a common field of professionalism that has developed in Russia and Germany. It's clear that imageology, as a science and a field of practice, is actively developing in our countries.’

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Here are brief profiles of some of the German participants in the symposium. Ewald Böhlke (b. 1955) succeeded Alexander Rahr as head of the Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Central Asia programme at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) in 2013. Prior to this, Böhlke was responsible for the Russian, Ukrainian, and Kazakh markets at the Daimler AG research centre. Ewald Böhlke's wife, Dr. Effi Böhlke, is a research fellow at the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (a Leftist party, former communists of the GDR). Böhlke's topic at the symposium was ‘Imaginations of Russia: Stereotypes and Prejudices.’

Martin Hoffmann (b. 1960) is the managing director and board member of the German-Russian Forum and a member of the board of the Petersburg Dialogue. He is known for his extremely pro-Russian stance, including his opposition to European sanctions following the seizure of Crimea in 2014. In 2007, Hoffmann was awarded the Order of Friendship of Peoples by Putin. The topic of Hoffmann's paper was ‘Russia's Image from a German Perspective.’

Andrei Chernodarov (b. 1967) is an associate professor at the University of Potsdam and an extremely active Russian agent of influence in Germany, collaborating with the Russian Embassy in Berlin, the Russkiy Mir Foundation, the World Coordinating Council of Russian Compatriots Living Abroad, and other similar Russian institutions. In December 2013, by decree of Putin, he was awarded, along with other foreigners, the Pushkin Medal ‘for his significant contribution to strengthening friendship and cooperation with Russia.’ The topic of Chernodarov's report is virtually identical to that of Hoffmann's: ‘Russia's Image in the German Media.’

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