Election of Russian Academy of Sciences president set tentatively for Sept 27 – acting RAS President Kozlov

MOSCOW. March 28 (Interfax) – The election of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) president will most likely be held on September 27, 2017, acting RAS President Valery Kozlov said on Tuesday.

“We are preparing and we will be preparing a general assembly, it will most apparently be held at the end of September of this year. Moreover, the [RAS] presidium convened today, and we agreed preliminarily that this meeting would be held on September 26, and we would probably elect the Russian Academy of Sciences president on [September] 27,” Kozlov said.

This will happen “exactly six months after the expiration of the current Russian Academy of Sciences leadership’s term,” he said.

At the same time, Kozlov said a final decision rests with the RAS presidium, which it should make at its meeting on April 11.

The RAS presidential elections should have been held last week, but all three candidates for this position, including Academician Vladimir Fortov, have unexpectedly quitted the election race. Claims from a group of academicians to the RAS Charter and the election procedure, were named as a reason for it. The RAS general assembly has finally made a decision to move the elections to the autumn of 2017, and for this period of time the presidium is due to draft amendments to the academy charter and settle their differences.

Fortov asked to be relieved of the RAS president position by Russian governmental decree, after the general assembly meeting last week. RAS Vice President Valery Kozlov, who was nominated for RAS president by Fortov, was appointed acting RAS head by the same document.