TRANSCRIPT: [Putin] Speech at a meeting with students at National Research Nuclear University (MEPhI)

(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.

I must say that it is really interesting to have this chance to be here at MEPhI. This university is a legendary place, and that is no exaggeration.

No matter how one may criticise the Soviet-era leaders, and there are certainly reasons to do so, but one can’t deny their ability to identify priorities and focus financial and administrative resources on the main development goals. That this university was established here in Moscow in 1942, before the Battle of Stalingrad had even taken place yet, is really quite amazing. This university built up its strength so well that it became a real centre for forging the personnel for our nuclear industry, for both the military and civilian components what’s more. And there’s no question that the university produces brilliant specialists.

I looked through the international ratings. Their results are partly based on the number of publications and how often they are cited of course. But for a long time in the nuclear industry it was simply not possible to get any citations because some work was totally confidential in nature, and this is still the case in this sector even today. But the achievements of your predecessors and today’s specialists make it possible to say without any doubt at all that this university’s specialists are absolute leaders, world leaders in a whole number of areas of research on fundamental particles, the atom and all related fields. You know better than I exactly what all the terms are here, since this is your area of work.

But what I can see clearer are the results of your present and future colleagues, in other words, you yourselves. It is already clear that in many areas we are ahead of others working in this field in other countries. It was no coincidence that MEPhI was one of the first universities to be given the status of research university. Our own ratings make it one of the country’s top universities, after Moscow State University and St Petersburg State University.

This shows that much was accomplished over past years, and it also shows that the level of teaching, research, and skills and knowledge gained has not dropped but on the contrary, continues to increase and reach ever-greater heights.

This is cause for me to once more wish you success and hope that you will make full use of the immense potential that was built up over the past years. I want to assure you that the country is following very closely ­ those who know what is involved at any rate ­ the nuclear industry’s successes, whether in the civilian or military sectors. You will unquestionably have a big part to play in helping to ensure our country’s energy security and defence capability.

I congratulate you on the holiday and wish you success.

[featured image is file photo]