Putin asked large companies after Rosneft to invest in genetics

Vladimir Putin conducted a video meeting on the development of genetics in Russia. The curator of this direction, according to the media, is Maria Vorontsova, the alleged daughter of the president. Igor Sechin participated in the meeting - his company Rosneft will be financed by the creation of a new genetic center in Russia. Putin at the meeting announced that he called for other large companies to connect to this.

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What's happened

In March, Rosneft officially became a partner of the government for the implementation of the state program for the development of genetics in Russia. So far, Rosneft is the only stated technological partner of the state in this area. But the “fairly wide range of possible partners” has already been determined, Vice-Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said on Thursday at a meeting with Putin on this issue.

Putin at the meeting also said that he was counting on “active, direct participation” in the program and other companies “in other areas”. What companies are in question, the published materials of the meeting is not specified. According to the interlocutor of The Bell in a commercial company, which is a contractor of the project, interest in genetics was shown by Rostec. The Bell sent a request to the company.

Sechin, for his part, asked Putin not to tax the investment of Rosneft in genetics. This would become an incentive for increasing support, he explained.

Putin asked the government to finance the project to protect personal data of citizens and “other sensitive information”, collected in the framework of genetic research. They will be stored in the National Bioresource Center for digitization and storage of genetic data - it is proposed to create it on the basis of the Kurchatov Institute.

What is known about the genetic project

In November 2018, Putin signed a decree on the development of genetic technologies in Russia. Then, in April 2019, then Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev approved a program written by Putin’s decree.

Literally, it is called the "Federal Scientific and Technical Program for the Development of Genetic Technologies for 2019–2027." It is planned to spend about 127 billion rubles on its implementation.

The head organization of the program was the Kurchatov Institute. Its implementation is monitored by a special advice. In April 2019, Putin included the endocrinologist Maria Vorontsova, who is considered his daughter. We talked about the genetic project and the role of Vorontsova in it here .

And here "Rosneft"

In early March, Deputy Prime Minister Golikov and Sechin signed an agreement on cooperation in the development of genetic technologies in Russia.

According to the Russian BBC Service, in the framework of this cooperation in Russia, a large center of complex research in the field of genetic technologies and genetic editing will be built.

At today's meeting, Putin Sechin called the main project “Biotechnological Campus” on the basis of the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He should examine Rosneft employees and their family members - 350 thousand people work in the company. According to the interlocutor of The Bell, we are talking about testing 100 thousand Rosneft employees. Two companies will participate in the equipment of the campus: “One is Western, the second is the leading Asian,” said Sechin.

“The company set an ambitious task, but for what exactly it plans to collect so much data is not yet clear. Rosneft has not yet voiced its goals, it is not clear even, this is research for applied science or fundamental, ”said The Bell's interlocutor in the genetic market.

“But if you conduct research ineptly, then all these data can simply be buried,” he warns. -We already have a bad example: the project “Russian genomes”, which was launched at St. Petersburg University. It was planned to secure 3 thousand genomes of Russians, several billion rubles were allocated for this. As a result, they received several hundred genomes, the money is over, the project too. ”

In early May, Rosneft and Moscow State University also announced the launch of the master's program “Genomic and Human Health”. At the same time, Moscow State University in its strategy, which was familiarized with The Bell, promises to introduce the programs of “applied undergraduate”, focused on the needs of the real sector in “breakthrough directions” - a digital economy, nanotechnologies and the oil and gas industry. They also plan to attract large companies to this.

This material was updated on June 8, 2020-after the BBC Russian service corrected its article on the participation of Rosneft in the creation of the Genetic Research Center, saying that on the basis of subsequent clarifications from Rosneft, information was removed from the article that Igor Sechin and Maria Vorontsova entered the observation council of the Development of Genetic Technologies. Also, the material was deleted data on financing and location of the project. “The inclusion of this information did not meet the standards necessary for publication,” the publication said. *