List of 1,000 Scientific Institutions to Be Managed by New Agency Confirmed

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – January 8, 2014) Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday confirmed the list of 1,007 institutions that will be run by the Federal Agency of Scientific Organizations, which was created last year by a law on academic reforms.

The list, initially published on the government’s website on Dec. 30, still includes all 20 of the institutions, museums and archives that the Russian Academy of Sciences’ head Vladimir Fortov had asked to be put back under the academy’s jurisdiction, Lenta.ru reported.

The Academy of Sciences’ press service said in November that President Vladimir Putin had approved the request, though the Kremlin did not at any point confirm having done so.

In accordance with the reform of the Academy of Sciences, signed into law in September, all scientific institutes and property belonging to the Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Medical Sciences, and the Academy of Agricultural Sciences will be managed by the new agency.

The three academies will also be merged under the provisions of the reform, which has been heavily criticized due to concerns that it will strip Russia’s scientific institutions of their independence. Its supporters, however, believe that by handing over certain management functions to the new agency it will give scientists more time and freedom to conduct their research.