Wednesday19 February 2025
smiua.net

A well-known actor has been accused of psychological abuse after allegedly spitting in someone's face and throwing bottles.

According to actress Alexandra Mironenko, Lev Somov is not the only instructor at KNUDT who exhibited such behavior. She mentioned that the director and choreographic instructor Valeria Demchenko also had a tendency to hit and insult students.
Известного актера обвинили в психологическом насилии: он плевал в лицо и бросался бутылками.

Actress Alexandra Mironenko from the National Drama Theater named after Maria Zankovetska accused Ukrainian actor Lev Somov (known for the series "SidOrenky-Sidorenky"), who is also a lecturer at the Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design (KNUTD), of psychological abuse and harassment of students. She posted about it on her Facebook page.

Alexandra shared that during her time at the university, he often used foul language and insulted the students.

"When we entered the university, our master gathered us and the first thing he said was 'How I hate you all.' At that moment, I laughed and thought it was just a joke. But I could never have imagined the hell I would face during three years of study. The more he got to know us, the more 'honesty' he allowed himself. We constantly heard phrases like 'you are idiots', 'you are a garbage course', 'useless b****', 'you are crazy', but when you're a little girl, you tend to downplay such things because you think he is just angry at the moment, and everything will be fine later," the actress wrote.

According to her, Lev Somov would throw water bottles at students and even spit in their faces. In particular, Alexandra recounted an incident where one girl failed to express surprise as the teacher required. Instead of explaining, he just yelled. At one point, he stood up, approached the student, and suggested they act out a scene together. When it came time for her to turn her head, he spat in her face, declaring that was the surprise he needed.

"Before all this, we constantly had water bottles flying at us, and to prove we were good and loved him, we fulfilled his whims — buying cigarettes, fetching items, cleaning things, finding something very quickly, or buying him marshmallows. Or until he finished his cigarette in silence, glaring at us, and then said 'You are ridiculous', we couldn't start our work," Alexandra added.

She explained that the lecturer forbade any relationships within the course. If Lev Somov discovered that anyone was in a relationship, especially among classmates, they immediately became his enemies.

"And enemies are meant to be destroyed, which is exactly what he did. I witnessed situations when he found out that his 'favorites' — a girl and a boy — were dating. He punished them in the most terrible way possible for a student — he ignored them and didn't let them perform on stage for months, refusing to look at them. But of course, before that, he screamed, especially at the girl, as if she were a seductress and it was her fault: 'You just want to screw around, you bastards.' Personally, when he found out my ex-boyfriend was from the Franko Theater, he said: 'Mironenko, you should lay down not before the Franko dogs, but only at my feet,'” Mironenko recounted.

She added that Lev Somov permitted criticizing students. He told her to lose weight, adding, "if you don't lose weight, you'll end up playing mothers and collective farm workers." Eventually, he stopped calling Alexandra by her name, referring to her only by her last name. As a result, she stopped eating, exhausted herself with workouts, and took various weight loss supplements. Only when her weight became critical did the lecturer start addressing her by name, praising her and recommending other students to find out how she achieved such results.

According to Alexandra Mironenko, Lev Somov is not the only lecturer who allowed such behavior. The actress noted that his "right hand," choreographer and lecturer Valeria Demchenko, also slapped students and insulted them.

"Getting slapped by Valeria Petrovna is the norm, whether in front of everyone or taking my classmate backstage to hit him," Alexandra shared.

Psychological Pressure from Lev Somov: University and Actor's Reaction

As of the publication of this material, the actor has not responded to Alexandra Mironenko's accusations. There has also been no reaction from KNUTD.

Recall that recently, 23-year-old Kyiv resident Sofia Sapozhnik released a video online in which she accused a lecturer from the Karpenko-Kary University of sexual harassment, specifically the artistic director of the "Young Theater," Andriy Belous. KNUKTKiT named after Karpenko-Kary stated that the educational institution had contacted the police to investigate the circulated information.

Subsequently, another lecturer from the Kyiv National University of Theater, Cinema and Television named after Ivan Karpenko-Kary was accused of harassing students. Not only girls but also boys were afraid of him.