Physicists Complain of Interference From State-Appointed Officials

Kremlin and Saint Basil's File Photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – April 21, 2014) Four physicists have announced their resignation from the academic council of one of Russia’s top research institutes, accusing it of failing to defend a prominent colleague who was fired for “truancy” after attending a workshop at Stony Brook University in the U.S. The dismissal of Alexander Gorsky from the […]

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Housing and High Wages Will Stop Russian ‘Brain Drain’ – Russian Official

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MOSCOW, April 2 (RIA Novosti) – New housing incentives and high wages will help prevent young Russian scientists from leaving the country, a Russian official said Wednesday during a meeting of young scientists in Siberia. “I think that we should create better conditions so that our young scientists are motivated to build their career here in the country. And by […]

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Minister Sees End to U.S. IT Purchases

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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – March 27, 2014) U.S. spying could cost software companies said Communications and Mass Media Minister Nikolai Nikiforov, in a message attached to an Instagram shot of a recent Wall Street Journal article detailing renewed U.S interest in spying on Russia. “U.S. security services have put an end to the further use of U.S. computer software […]

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Interfax: Russian economy sees rise in demand for highly-skilled scientists – official

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(Interfax – February 10, 2014) Ecology is to become the most sought-after, most funded field of Russian science over the next few years, Russian Presidential Aide and former education minister Andrei Fursenko said. “I think ecology will be a very interesting area (of research) for Russia. I believe that over the next five to ten years the problem of the […]

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Skolkovo Foundation Touts Growth as Innovation Rating Drops

Skolkovo File Photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Panin – January 31, 2014) Despite the fact that Russia went down 11 positions to 62nd place in the 2013 Global Innovation Index, Skolkovo Foundation executives said Thursday that the technology incubator plays an important role in buoying the country’s position in such ratings. The index, jointly prepared by Cornell University, INSEAD and the […]

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Excerpts from transcript of [Putin] meeting with National Research Nuclear University (MEPhI) students

Russian Nuclear Submarine file photo

(Kremlin.ru – January 22, 2014) PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good afternoon, everyone, The main reason for this meeting is to congratulate you on the upcoming holiday. As one would write in official documents, I want to congratulate you and in your person all of Russia’s students. I wish you the very best in your studies and your future careers. […]

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Interfax: Putin: Future Research Fund should look over horizon, avoid rainbow chasing

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TULA. Jan 21 (Interfax) – The Future Research Fund should not chase rainbows and have scientific and technological illusions in the selection of projects it will support, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. He added that the Fund “should be looking over the horizon.” “It is important to avoid straight repetition of even promising solutions in the selection of projects. As […]

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Putin Overhaul of Science Risks Final Blow to Soviet-Era Machine

File Photo of Test Tubes with Algae Displaying Different Colors, Part of U.S. Energy-Related Research; from nrel.gov

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Oliver Staley, Henry Meyer and Stepan Kravchenko – January 14, 2014) Yulia Nelyubina is an internationally recognized chemist at the Russian Academy of Sciences. An overhaul of the academy pushed through by President Vladimir Putin may leave her homeless and further damage the country’s already bruised science establishment. The changes mean the academy will lose control […]

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

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(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, […]

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Reform Will Lead to Death of Russian Science, Academicians Warn

Adaptions of Image from Livermore.gov of Element 118 Atoms

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Oleg Sukhov – December 24, 2013) Requesting money for a project that violates the laws of physics is something you would expect from an institution run by government officials, say critics of the reform of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, a government-owned company, is developing a gravitsapa […]

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Academy of Sciences ‘Doesn’t Own’ its Moscow Headquarters

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – November 29, 2013) The Russian Academy of Sciences, or RAN, doesn’t have ownership rights over its landmark building on Vorobyovy Gory and may lose the premises to a new federal scientific affairs agency, a news report said Friday. The State Property Agency had been looking for a building to house the newly-minted […]

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Supercomputing Gap Seen as Threat to Economy

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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Guennadi Moukine – November 28, 2013) PERESLAVL-ZALESSKY, Yaroslavl Region ­ Russia is lagging five and a half years behind the U.S. in supercomputing technology and closing the gap is essential for the competitiveness of the Russian economy, an Academy of Sciences computing expert said. Supercomputers, which are ranked according to their speed of calculation measured […]

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Russian Tech Sector Reliant on U.S. Investors and Expertise

Cash, Calculator, Pen

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Guennadi Moukine – November 11, 2013) The only route to success for Russian technology firms is to launch an operation and find investors in U.S., an investment forum heard. The venture capital market in the U.S. is mature, and investors have experience that Russia, whose investment institutions are relatively young, does not have, speakers at […]

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Technology Expert Sees Fear of Failure Inhibiting Russian Innovation

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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Guennadi Moukine – November 5, 2013) Despite its extraordinary scientific capacity, a stated desire to be competitive and the availability of capital, it may take several generations before Russia’s investment in innovation will bear fruit, a report by MIT on the country’s role in global innovation shows. Russia has many of the necessary elements to […]

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Geography and Humility to Fuel Open Innovation Forum

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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Guennadi Moukine – October 31, 2013) Russia’s straddling of Europe and Asia and its unpretentious approach to embracing all who strive to capitalize on new technology will make the Open Innovations Forum that starts Thursday in Moscow a success, the event’s chief executive said. World-famous innovators and visionaries will share their concepts and secrets of […]

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What awaits Russian science? The country’s scholars and scientists are outraged by reforms of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Adaptions of Image from Livermore.gov of Element 118 Atoms

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Andrey Vaganov, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Nezavisimaya Gazeta, special to RBTH – October 25, 2013) A recently passed law on reforming the Russian Academy of Sciences is aimed at segregating scientific research from academic property management. The government argues the move will free science of an irrelevant burden. Academics, for their part, are convinced […]

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No hope for Russia’s hi-tech sector?

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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Artem Zagorodnov, RBTH –  October 9, 2013) Most Russians do not believe in Russia’s future as a leading hi-tech exporter, a Debate Night this week at Moscow’s Technopolis revealed. The fact that Russia currently accounts for 26 percent of the world’s high-tech exports was no deterrent to this week’s Debate Night at Moscow’s […]

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Science Reform Bill Passes Federation Council

Federation Council file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Allison Quinn – September 26, 2013) The Federation Council on Wednesday approved a controversial bill to reform the Russian Academy of Sciences, paving the way for it to be signed into law by President Vladimir Putin, as opponents of the bill protested against it outside the upper house of parliament. The bill has prompted numerous […]

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Moscow’s Plan to Restructure Academy of Sciences Will Spark Separatism, Scholars Say

Federation Council file photo

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, September 24, 2013) If the Federation Council approves the government-backed and Duma-approved plan to restructure the Russian Academy of Sciences, a group of Russian scientists say, this will lead to a weakening or even breakdown of horizontal ties across the country and to “the growth of separatist tendencies.” In an open letter […]

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Russian Parliament Gives Approval for State to Take Over Academy of Sciences

Duma Session file photo

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, September 18, 2013) ­ A bill to hand over control of research institutions in Russia from the country’s Academy of Sciences to the federal government was approved on Wednesday in the federal parliament despite vehement objections from the scientific community. The landmark bill, which has yet to be approved by the upper house of parliament and […]

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Business looks to tech to salvage U.S.-Russia relationship

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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Artem Zagorodnov, RBTH – September 17, 2013) The reset may be over, but business leaders hope that trade ties do not have to be completely dependent on the whims of Washington and Moscow. Russian Innovation Week, which has started today in Boston and would continue this week in Silicon Valley, is the latest […]

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From no child left behind to every man for himself

File Photo of Test Tubes with Algae Displaying Different Colors, Part of U.S. Energy-Related Research; from nrel.gov

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – Natalia Savitskaya, special to RBTH – rbth.ru – September 2, 2013) During the Soviet era, teachers and scientists were revered and their dedication to their work reflected their status. Now that today’s students aspire to careers in business or entrepreneurship, are educational standards slipping? In the Soviet Union, no child left behind was the rule, […]

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Moscow has U.S. Internet surveillance server – Vedomosti quoting Snowden’s disclosures

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(Interfax – August 12, 2013) One of the servers of U.S. global system of monitoring Internet users is located in Moscow, Vedomosti daily reported on Monday quoting information shared by former CIA employee Edward Snowden with The Guardian. Vedomosti says this follows from a 2008 presentation of the U.S. National Security Agency published on the Guardian’s website on July 31. […]

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U.S.-Russia Peer-to-Peer Dialogue Program [Grants Available; application deadline Aug. 12, 2013]

Stylized Russian and U.S. Flags with Number 200, 1807-2007

From: “US-Russia Dialogue, Moscow” <US-RussiaDialogue@state.gov> Subject: US-Russia Peer-to-Peer Dialogue Program Date: Fri, 12 Jul 2013 U.S.-Russia Peer-to-Peer Dialogue Program To help foster greater contacts between Americans and Russians, the State Department is announcing the U.S.-Russia Peer-to-Peer Dialogue Program, which will provide small grants to support collaboration, including meetings, virtual interactions, exchanges, and internships, between American and Russian organizations.   Applications from […]

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Reform of Russian Academy of Sciences to have no negative impact on employees – Putin

Adaptions of Image from Livermore.gov of Element 118 Atoms

(Interfax – GOGLAND ISLAND, Leningrad region, July 15, 2013) The reform of the Russian Academy of Sciences will have no negative impact on the work of the institute’s employees, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. “Actually, nothing will change for those, who work in institutes,” Putin said on Monday when answering questions of participants of the archeological expedition Gogland 2013. Institutes […]

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Academicians fear reform may kill ‘oasis of freedom and democracy’

Adaptions of Image from Livermore.gov of Element 118 Atoms

(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 9, 2013) Academicians may draft their own amendments to the bill reforming the Russian Academy of Sciences, Academy corresponding member and Economics Institute Director Ruslan Grinberg said. “This reform is a sore subject; we may draft our own amendments….The main attack is being made on the Academy’s self-government. Even assets do not matter. Sure, these are […]

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Collateral Damage from Three New Russian Laws

Russian Duma Building

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, July 6, 2013) Three new pieces of Russian legislation appear likely to inflict serious collateral damage on that country, eliminating a defender of Lake Baikal against industrial pollution, inflicting new suffering on the already hard-pressed numerically small peoples of the north, and destroying some of the last vestiges of federalism in the […]

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Academy reform to be done in 3 years, no dismissals planned – Duma committee head

Russian Duma Building

(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 4, 2013) Transformations in the Russian Academy of Sciences will be evolutionary and take three years. Corresponding members may become academicians in that period, the Academy administration will be abolished, and the Academy’s Agency for Scientific Institutes will manage Academy property and research centers. “There will be no haste; transformations will begin unhurriedly, one or two […]

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Scientists Slam Academy Reform

File Photo of Test Tubes with Algae Displaying Different Colors, Part of U.S. Energy-Related Research; from nrel.gov

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – July 3, 2013) The State Duma is set to vote Wednesday in a first reading on a heavily criticized bill sponsored by the government that would strip the Russian Academy of Sciences of an important source of revenue: the right to lease its premises. On Tuesday, around a thousand researchers held a […]

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Putin: academic institute directors should not be appointed by bureaucrats

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(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 3, 2013) Bureaucrats should not have the right to appoint directors of academic institutes, President Vladimir Putin said. “I would like to call your attention to a key provision of this draft law [reforming the Academy], i.e. the establishment of an agency managing Academy assets and essentially performing one of its main functions – the appointment […]

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Russian Duma Gives Green Light to Science Academy Reform

Adaptions of Image from Livermore.gov of Element 118 Atoms

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, July 3, 2013) ­ A government-backed bill on a sweeping overhaul of Russia’s Academy of Sciences was passed in the first reading by the lower house of the federal parliament on Wednesday, despite fierce opposition from the academy’s leadership. The bill proposes handing control over the academy’s vast assets and 434 scholarly institutes to a new […]

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Russian Academy of Sciences system is obsolete, will be reformed – Medvedev

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(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 27, 2013) Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said the system of the Russian Academy of Sciences needs to be reformed, adding an appropriate draft law is being drawn up. Medvedev told a government meeting that the Cabinet will consider reforming the system of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the appropriate draft federal law. “Russia now […]

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Russia to Overhaul Academy of Sciences

Adaptions of Image from Livermore.gov of Element 118 Atoms

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, June 27, 2013) ­ The Russian government is to overhaul the nation’s Academy of Sciences, it announced on Thursday, including stripping it of the right to manage its property in apparent impatience with the state of the organization. “It’s important to allow the scholars to focus on science and research and spare them of the irrelevant […]

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Russian Professor Blasts Nature Magazine’s New Rating

Adaptions of Image from Livermore.gov of Element 118 Atoms

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, June 25, 2013) ­ A member of the Russian Academy of Sciences has dismissed as “nonsense” a new global rating of academic research by Nature magazine, in which his academy ranked 193rd among 200 institutions. “I’m absolutely convinced it’s nonsense, since Russian science is a world leader in many spheres [of research],” geologist Nikolai Lavyorov told […]

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Russian Start-ups Face Visa Hurdles to Compete in U.S. Business Contest

United States Map

(RIA Novosti – WASHINGTON, June 19, 2013) ­ Russian technology start-ups that were selected as finalists in a prestigious US business development competition might not be able to take part in the months-long contest because of visa problems, the head of an investment company that is co-sponsoring the event said Thursday. Four teams of two Russians from start-ups developing apps […]

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