Translated material
Entire Presidential RAS
Vladimir Putin signed a law abolishing the full autonomy of the Academy of Sciences
The long-running debate surrounding the fate of the Russian Academy of Sciences has come to an end. We can say that scientists are literally put at the service of the state. Vladimir Putin approved changes to the federal law “On Science and State Scientific and Technical Policy”, according to which the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences is approved by the President of Russia, and the heads of branch academies are approved by the government. The new rules also require academicians to approve the charter at a government meeting and report annually to the president and the cabinet of ministers on their scientific, organizational, financial and economic activities. Based on academic reports on the most promising areas of research work, funding for certain branches of science will be calculated. Until now, the RAS received 20 billion rubles annually. to all 400-odd institutions and had the right to independently distribute funds within its network.The integration of the Russian Academy of Sciences into the vertical of government power became inevitable two years ago, when the government announced a program for the modernization of science. Nevertheless, many academics until the last moment hoped to maintain complete autonomy, arguing that science should develop on its own, regardless of politics and economics. Many opponents of the current leadership of the Academy of Sciences are inclined to believe that the new law is the result of a deal between the Kremlin and the president of the academy, Yuri Osipov. The current president of the Russian Academy of Sciences initially actively opposed the reformers from the Ministry of Education and Science, but as the elections at the academy approached, he gradually switched to the side of government officials.
Elections would have been held in mid-December. And the age of Yuri Osipov, who celebrated his 70th birthday this year, does not allow him, according to the statutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences, to run again for the presidency. However, the introduction of amendments to the federal law “On Science and State Scientific and Technical Policy”, requiring approval of the academy’s charter in the White House, actually postponed the elections by at least six months. Commenting on the updated law signed by the president, Mr. Osipov has already announced that elections for a new president of the Academy of Sciences will take place no earlier than the summer of 2007. At the same time, Yuri Osipov can also hope that by that time the updated charter will contain amendments changing the age threshold for candidates for president of the Russian Academy of Sciences.