Academician Vladislav Panchenko is considered one of the favorites in the upcoming presidential elections of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The process of preparing the election of a new president of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAN) has reached the home stretch. Let us remind you that the elections of the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences should take place on September 25 at the General Meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The new president of the Russian Academy of Sciences is to be officially announced on September 27. This is the second attempt by academicians to elect a president. The first, in March 2017, was actually thwarted as a result of a “special operation” carried out by government officials: all three candidates for the highest academic post withdrew their candidacies.
The political and government leadership of the country decided not to let the September elections take their course. On behalf of the government, preparations for the elections were supervised by Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Arkady Dvorkovich.
For the past six months, the academy has been in a unique situation. It was headed by the acting president of the Russian Academy of Sciences, academician Valery Kozlov. The Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences has prepared a new regulation on presidential elections. By July 25, the Russian Academy of Sciences had compiled a list of candidates for the presidency, and it was sent to the government for approval, a new procedure established after the collapse of the elections in March.
Initially, there were seven academic candidates on this list: Evgeny Kablov – General Director of the All-Russian Institute of Aviation Materials; Gennady Krasnikov – General Director of JSC Research Institute of Molecular Electronics, Chairman of the Board of Directors of PJSC Mikron; Robert Nigmatulin is the scientific director of the Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. P.P. Shirshova;
Vladislav Panchenko – scientific director of the Institute for Problems of Laser and Information Technologies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, chairman of the board of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR); Alexander Sergeev – Director of the Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Alexey Khokhlov - Vice-Rector of Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov, Head of the Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Polymers, Institute of Organoelement Compounds of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Valery Chereshnev is director of the Institute of Immunology and Physiology of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Basically, all of them were put forward by branches of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Only two – Alexey Khokhlov and Robert Nigmatulin – are self-nominated: they had to collect 50 signatures from their fellow academicians. Which they easily coped with, collecting even more.
On August 31, the Russian government, having considered the candidates submitted by the Russian Academy of Sciences, corrected the list. The list agreed upon by the government lacks two candidates: Alexey Khokhlov and Valery Chereshnev. Thus, the General Meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences on September 25 will elect the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences from five candidates. In case of successful completion of the elections, the candidacy of the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences will be finally approved by President Vladimir Putin. By the way, he may not agree with the choice of academicians. And then he himself will appoint the president of the RAS - at his choice of any of the academicians. Thus, the state actually ceased to consider the Academy of Sciences to be at least relatively separate from it, the state, as a force. An academician, especially the president of the Russian Academy of Sciences, is now an ordinary civil servant.
Be that as it may, according to NG information from sources in the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences, “principal instructions were given from above to hold elections.”
For now, the following can be noted. The “dropped out” academician Alexey Khokhlov is the son of one of the best, as many believe, rectors of Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov throughout Soviet history, Rem Khokhlova, was considered in academic circles as one of the desired candidates for the post of President of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He knows the structure of European science well (honorary professor at the University of Ulm, Germany). Khokhlov heads the Science Council under the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation. In one of his interviews after he was confirmed as a candidate for the post of President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, he stated: “Given my life experience, I would be more cautious about the concept of democracy in science.” Most likely, the “jealousy” of the current rector of Moscow State University, Academician Viktor Sadovnichy, affected his screening through the government filter. According to another version, this candidate did not suit Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of the National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute” Mikhail Kovalchuk. The latter is called in behind-the-scenes conversations one of the initiators of the RAS reform, which began four years ago.
As for Academician Valery Chereshnev, he himself, it seems, had no illusions about his candidacy. It said that he worked in the State Duma for 10 years. Apparently, the government simply did not want to “dilute” the votes in the elections and removed the “weak figure” from the board. It is even more puzzling that Academician Robert Nigmatulin was left on the list. He is 77 years old, and according to the current election regulations, the age limit is 75 years old. Everyone expected that he would be cut off from the list. But, as one of the academicians joked in a conversation with NG, “the government simply cut off the last two candidates on the list.”
Several independent sources reported to NG that the government's favorite in the upcoming presidential elections of the Russian Academy of Sciences is academician Vladislav Panchenko. According to our information, in some branches of the Russian Academy of Sciences they are trying to convince people to vote for the “government candidate.” However, this will be difficult to do.
An NG source, on condition of anonymity, said that Panchenko has many complaints about the work of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, which he heads: “The work of the fund is not transparent. In addition, Panchenko has a heavy moral imprint: after all, it was he who in March of this year actually initiated the disruption of the presidential elections of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He has already withdrawn his candidacy and is now running again. It’s not nice.” We also note that on September 15, Academician Panchenko turns 70 years old. Taking into account the government's policy of rejuvenating the cadre of senior managers, this can also play a role.
However, the possibility of an unexpected personnel decision cannot be ruled out. A NG source in the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences reported that after the government decision to unhook the two academicians, the figure of academician Gennady Krasnikov may shoot. “There is a powerful military-industrial lobby in the academy behind him,” NG’s interlocutor emphasized. – He is a member of the Military-Industrial Commission, headed by Vladimir Putin. Krasnikov heads the interdepartmental Council of Chief Designers for the electronic component base of the Russian Federation. Given the government’s declared course towards the digital economy, all this can play in its favor. Moreover, he is only 59 years old. Again, this is a plus for him.”
Today the election of a new president of the Russian Academy of Sciences was disrupted. Three candidates applied for this post, but all of them, including the current head of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Academician Vladimir Fortov, recused themselves.
The question of the election of the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences was supposed to be raised only on Wednesday. However, after brief opening speeches by Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich and Minister of Education Olga Vasilyeva, the scientific secretary of the academy's presidium, Mikhail Paltsev, asked to speak. It was he who unexpectedly announced that last night all three participants in the upcoming presidential elections of the Russian Academy of Sciences held a meeting to discuss the situation that had developed on the eve of the elections.
The Academy of Sciences, which had no empty seats, greeted this news with restraint - most of the assembled academicians already knew about such a scenario. Rather, those gathered were surprised if this decision came as a surprise to some of their colleagues.
The speech of another candidate, academician Vladislav Panchenko, was almost identical. He also confirmed for his part that, in accordance with the general agreement, he was withdrawing his candidacy.
The last speaker was the current President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Academician Vladimir Fortov - his powers in this post expire in a few days. It was he who proposed postponing the elections for six months or even more, taking into account the summer months. Fortov explained that a group of academicians pointed out significant imperfections in the RAS charter. Because of this, holding elections now may cast a shadow on the legitimacy of the election of both the president of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the presidium of the academy.
However, such explanations no longer satisfied the academicians. People in the hall considered this development of events an insult. Shouts began to be heard from the field that simply raising one’s hands now for postponing the election of the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences means plunging the academy into legal chaos.
Historian Yuri Pivovarov said that Fortov’s arguments are untenable and that members of the Russian Academy of Sciences cannot be treated this way. Pivovarov added that he does not yet see a way out of the current situation, although he regrets that in the end the fate of the academy will be decided not by academics, but by the authorities.
Following the results of today's meeting, the general meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences decided to postpone the election of the president of the academy to the fall. Now they must pass no later than November 20th.
The next presidential elections of the Russian Academy of Sciences may take place according to a new scheme. The State Duma is preparing amendments to the law on science that will directly affect this procedure, said Mikhail Paltsev, Scientific Secretary of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It is possible that the candidacy of the head of the Russian Academy of Sciences will be approved by the president of the country.
The authorities should not interfere in the activities of the Academy of Sciences, says Oleg Smolin, deputy chairman of the Duma Committee on Education and Science. According to him, the law on the reorganization of the Russian Academy of Sciences, adopted in 2013, bureaucratized scientific work and led to negative consequences.
Prime Minister Medvedev fears a collapse in the Russian Academy of Sciences - the government is not indifferent to what is happening in the Russian Academy of Sciences. If necessary, legal assistance should be provided to organize elections for the President of the Academy,” Medvedev said. Today he is going to meet with the current president of the Academy, Vladimir Fortov.
Candidate Panchenko’s speech was reminiscent of Brezhnev’s speech
This week the moment of truth arrived for Russian science. On Monday, in the Great Hall of the Russian Academy of Sciences at 32 Leninsky Prospekt (the famous “golden brains”), elections for the president of the academy began. The elections, which were actually disrupted in the spring of this year, are being held according to new rules. And they expect from them, at a minimum, the appearance of a real leader who can put an end to the protracted feuds between scientists and officials, between the Russian Academy of Sciences and the FANO.
However, can he? The first day of the general meeting was allocated for candidates to present their programs. Observing the reaction of the audience, the MK correspondent was able to estimate the approximate balance of power before today's vote.
There were few smiles in the room that day - too much was at stake. Everyone is dressed to the nines. The seating arrangement in the hall attracted attention: the scientists seemed to be divided into two camps. On the left are candidates Evgeny Kablov and Gennady Krasnikov, in the center are Acting President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Valery Kozlov and the head of FANO Mikhail Kotyukov, on the right are all the other candidates (Nigmatulin, Sergeev, Panchenko). The director of the Kurchatov Institute, Mikhail Kovalchuk, was also seen among those present. “I came to cheer for my own,” they whispered on the sidelines.
It is well known that Kovalchuk’s “own” candidate is the Chairman of the RFBR Council, Vladislav Panchenko.
Just the day before, the leadership of the Russian Academy of Sciences, represented by acting president Valery Kozlov, sent out a message to all members of the academy about the procedure for holding elections. The procedure is quite strict: there is a shortened discussion of candidates - no more than four academicians. This caused indignation at the general meeting - after all, there were a lot of questions for the candidates. Academician Vladimir Zakharov expressed general dissatisfaction and demanded more time for discussion. Kozlov promised to extend it if necessary. The academy's 1,381 members agreed and the candidates' speeches began.
The positions of Evgeny Kablov and Gennady Krasnikov turned out to be largely similar. In particular, both spoke in favor of changing the status of the academy, that is, strengthening its powers. “To be honest, I liked their performances,” Valery Kozlov commented on these statements during a break. “I think all candidates have a good chance of winning, except for those who set too unrealistic plans - for example, they propose to return all the institutions that came under the control of FANO after 2013.”
Kozlov did not specify who exactly proposed this.
“Why do you think it is impossible for the institutes to return to the RAS? - asked the MK correspondent. “After all, they were able to snatch them out of the academy quite quickly, handing them over to FANO?”
Academician Kozlov recalled the case of the transfer of academic institutes to People's Commissariat Enterprises when Academician Keldysh was president of the Russian Academy of Sciences. But then, when this experience did not justify itself, they were very quickly returned back to the RAS. “Maybe it would be possible to return the institutes now, but I think it would not happen too quickly; after all, a lot has changed in our system over the past four years,” Kozlov said.
The acting president diplomatically kept silent about the essence of these changes. However, everyone understood him anyway.
The director of the Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Alexander Sergeev, spoke most sincerely, clearly and knowledgeably. And the speech of the most scandalous candidate for the post of President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladislav Panchenko, caused a noticeable protest from members of the Academy at the general meeting.
Panchenko endlessly read from a piece of paper for the 20 minutes allotted to him to present the program, which was very reminiscent of the speeches of Secretary General Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev. However, it was not even the style of speech, with which calls to develop the digital economy were strangely linked (apparently, this was a reference to the statements of the President of the Russian Federation, who has often used this phrase recently), that caused discontent among colleagues. Thus, Vladimir Zakharov recalled to Panchenko that he was the only academician who supported the disastrous, in the opinion of the majority, reform of the academy in 2013. And Corresponding Member of the RAS Askold Ivanchik emphasized that since Panchenko took the post of head of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, the share of funding for institutes as a whole has decreased by 40%, but more funds have begun to be allocated to so-called oriented research, about which it is known in advance result (here, apparently, what was meant was their engagement on the part of some oligarchic groups).
Panchenko tried to react, but not too convincingly. Thus, in response to a remark about “betrayal of the academy” in 2013, he said that he really considers the merger of three different academies into one a positive change, but did not provide clear arguments. And when answering a question about the financing of science, he got off with a phrase like: everything is not as you said, in fact, everything is fine with us.
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Two more candidates - director of the Yekaterinburg Institute of Immunology and Physiology Valery Chereshnev and vice-rector of Moscow State University. The government did not approve Alexey Khokhlov of Lomonosov without explanation. At the same time, Khokhlov was considered one of the election favorites. On September 12, he called for voting for Sergeev.
Background
The Russian Academy of Sciences was established by order of Emperor Peter I on February 8, 1724 to conduct fundamental research; until 1917 it was called St. Petersburg, and in 1925 - Soviet. The original name of the academy was returned in 1991. Members of the country's highest scientific institution are elected for life by the general meeting of the academy. They elect a president every five years.
The reform of the system of state academies of sciences began in 2013 on the initiative of the Minister of Education and Science Dmitry Livanov. He oversaw the development of the relevant bill. The leadership of the Russian Academy of Sciences - President Vladimir Fortov and Vice-President Zhores Alferov - refused to participate in the discussion of the bill. On September 27, 2013, President Vladimir Putin signed the law “On the Reform of the Russian Academy of Sciences,” which deprived the Academy of all its scientific institutes. They were resubordinated to a new structure - the government-controlled Federal Agency for Scientific Organizations (FANO). The Academy of Sciences reacted painfully to the appearance of FANO - the agency deprived the academy of property and funding.
Academy without property
The reform of science began with property issues. In 2013, the Academies of Medical and Agricultural Sciences (RAMS and Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences) were annexed to the RAS, after which more than 1,000 organizations included in the academies were transferred by government order to the management of FANO. Some institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences were united into scientific centers. Now there are 668 scientific institutions and 168 enterprises in the FANO system.
At the beginning of the reform, not only the RAS, but also the government had little idea of what kind of property and in what quantity the academies controlled. According to the results of the inventory carried out by FANO, almost 20% more land plots and capital facilities were found than were listed in the documents, the FANO press service reported. Some of the discovered real estate was written off due to poor condition, and some was transferred to regional authorities. But there is still a lot left. According to FANO, by September 2017, the balance sheets of its subordinate organizations included 2 million hectares of land plots and 30,777 capital buildings with a total area of 32.4 million square meters. m.
Academy without grants
Another part of the science reform was the establishment of the Russian Science Foundation (RSF) to distribute grants for priority research. Its board of trustees was headed by the former Minister of Education and Science, now presidential assistant Andrei Fursenko. The headquarters of the foundation is located in the center of Moscow on Solyanka, in the building of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. The premises were transferred to the foundation for free use by FANO, as indicated in the annual report of the Russian Science Foundation.
Where candidates for the presidency of the Russian Academy of Sciences propose to look for money for science (excerpts from election programs)
Vladislav Panchenko
Chairman of the Board of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR)
“The Russian Academy of Sciences should receive the status of the main body of scientific expertise in Russia”
When obtaining any licenses, approvals, patents, certificates and other permits related to scientific activity and innovation or requiring scientific justification, the examination of the Russian Academy of Sciences should become mandatory, the academician believes. FANO should not complicate the lives of Russian scientists, but become their main assistant in their work. From formal, bureaucratic relationships it is necessary to move to a type of communication in which scientific activity and its support will be placed at the forefront.
Alexander Sergeev
Director of the Federal Research Center of the Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences
“It is necessary to create an “instrumentalization” fund through the introduction of a “science tax”
According to the academician, to finance science it is necessary to create a special fund with a volume of at least 30 billion rubles. per year, which would be filled “due to the introduction of a “science tax” levied on the profits of raw materials state corporations and large companies.” Plus, it is necessary to introduce a three-level system of state support for fundamental science, built according to the scheme “from understanding through competition to leadership,” and provide it with additional budget funding of at least 60 billion rubles. in year.
Robert Nigmatulin
scientific director of the Institute of Oceanology named after P. P. Shirshov RAS
“State-owned companies should allocate a share of their turnover to science”
The ineffectiveness of science is also due to the lack of effective demand for goods, and hence for new technologies and knowledge.
The state should organize the demand for knowledge, the academician believes.
He also proposes to create four trust funds with funding from the state budget: to update the measuring and observational base, to finance publishing activities, to repair and modernize institute buildings and to provide social support for members of the RAS.
Evgeny Kablov
General Director of the All-Russian Institute of Aviation Materials
“The Russian Academy of Sciences should transfer scientific audit of projects carried out at the expense of the state budget”
The Academy of Sciences should receive the right to consider any programs and projects related to scientific activity and innovation, and become the country's main body for examination and collection of scientific information to provide analytical materials to authorities, the academician is sure. He proposes to transfer full-fledged expert functions to the RAS. Only an independent examination by the Russian Academy of Sciences will make it possible to optimize the expenditure of funds allocated for scientific research in state corporations, scientific and research centers, the candidate believes.
Gennady Krasnikov
General Director of JSC "Research Institute of Molecular Electronics"
“We must take as much money as possible from federal target programs”
From 2013 to 2016, the fund received 28 billion rubles. budget subsidies plus in 2015 a contribution of 14.9 billion rubles. from Rosneftegaz. The RSF placed part of its funds on deposits with Promsvyazbank and Otkritie Bank. At the end of 2016, interest on them amounted to 3.9 billion rubles, according to the fund’s reporting.
The total is 47 billion rubles. Of these, 40 billion rubles. The foundation has already issued grants for more than 2,500 scientific projects. The amount of grants ranges from 4–20 million rubles.
According to the Russian Science Foundation, the largest recipients of grants were not academic institutions, but Moscow State University and St. Petersburg State University.
The effectiveness of projects, judging by the words of science curators and the presidential decree on measures for state policy in the field of education and science, is assessed primarily by their citation rates. “Now many are trying to “digitize” fundamental research, and these attempts by officials to somehow divide the money allocated for fundamental research are natural,” said RSF General Director Alexander Khlunov. “In order to simplify the work of officials, we provide data: how many millions we spent on the project and how many publications in the Web of Science we received.” According to his calculations, the average grant is 5–6 million rubles. Russian scientists achieve results that allow them to receive more than five publications in the Web of Science.
On average 10 billion rubles. The Russian Foundation for Basic Research (established in 1992) also distributes budget subsidies per year; the fund’s board is headed by academician Vladislav Panchenko, candidate for president of the Russian Academy of Sciences. According to the RFBR report, more than half of the grants usually go to organizations subordinate to the FANO: 58% in 2015, a third to higher educational institutions.
Academy of Experts
According to the agreement on cooperation between FANO and the Russian Academy of Sciences approved by the government, the agency forms and approves state assignments for scientific work, a program for the development of scientific organizations and appoints directors of scientific institutes. The Academy of Sciences only has the right to prepare its proposals on this part and coordinate the agency’s proposals.
The reform turned the RAS into a club of academicians with almost no influence on the bureaucracy and finances in Russian science; the main function of scientists from the Academy of Sciences became forecast and expert function, Academician Chereshnev was indignant. Despite the fact that the reform documents specifically noted that no scientific task for institutes was approved without the presidium of the Academy of Sciences, FANO began to redistribute money among institutes. Moreover, the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences did not receive any documents, states Academician Boris Kashin. The new RAS has practically no levers of influence on scientific policy, he agrees: FANO gives the RAS an advisory voice, as a result, the management of science was taken away from scientists and handed over to officials.
How did this affect fundamental science?
Not development, but survival
The main problem in the development of domestic science is the reduced government spending on fundamental research, states Irina Dezhina, leading researcher at the Institute for the Economy in Transition.
Due to meager funding, the lion's share of funds goes to salaries of scientists and one cannot even dream of updating the experimental base, notes Academician Kashin. According to him, in the field of experimental science, our country is decades behind; in terms of the share of spending on fundamental science in GDP, Russia is on the same level as Mexico (0.16%).
Similar principles
They tried to follow the same path of administering fundamental science as in the USSR in France. There, in 1939, a structure similar to the USSR Academy of Sciences was created - the National Center for Scientific Research of France (Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS), which became the country's highest scientific institution. The CNRS currently interacts with universities through a system of associated laboratories.
Grant funding in Russia does not fulfill the function of development, Dezhina notes. The Russian Foundation for Basic Research and the Russian Science Foundation allocate little funds for initiative projects; most of the money goes to support the priority areas they have chosen. The funding itself is not spent on supporting graduate students and young scientists participating in the project, conducting field research, expeditions, participating in conferences, purchasing instruments and materials, as happens abroad, but goes mainly to increasing low wages, she continues.
The board of the Accounts Chamber came to the same conclusion after analyzing the activities of the Russian Science Foundation for 2013–2016, the agency reported. Although it is necessary to increase salaries: according to Putin’s May decrees, the average salary of scientific employees should reach 200% of the regional average by 2018. But to achieve these indicators, you have to juggle with numbers. Often, scientific workers are transferred to part-time work, says Kashin: instead of eight hours, they work for four or even two hours. In this case, their real incomes do not grow, but formally their salaries increase by 2–4 times.
Kashin believes that FANO should be subordinate to the RAS, and if the authorities have distrust of scientists, then FANO can be assigned a control function. The citation rate of mathematicians' works is several times lower than that of physicists, but this does not mean that they are idle, explains the academician. An adequate measure of a scientist’s work is solely the assessment of colleagues from the Academy of Sciences, adds Kashin. Dezhina believes that the separation of institutes from the Academy of Sciences and their subordination to FANO officials is not a vicious idea if the principle of “two keys” is implemented in practice and the expert opinion of scientists is taken into account when determining research topics that will be provided with government funding. In addition, it is important to provide budgetary funding for large research topics initiated by scientists themselves, she adds.
Russian science in the context of the world
Since 2006, Panchenko has headed the Institute of Molecular Physics of the National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute", whose president is Kovalchuk, and also heads the board of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, which includes Kovalchuk. Panchenko answered questions from journalists about his chances of election and his closeness to Kovalchuk twice: in March 2017, he told the BBC, “this is a difficult question and not an entirely correct statement.” In an interview with Kommersant, Panchenko said: “We can probably say about any employee that he is his boss’s man. But the situation is not as primitive as some people perceive it for one reason or another related to their personal attitude towards M.V. Kovalchuk.”
The administrative resource works for Panchenko, believes Mikhail Gelfand, deputy director of the Institute for Information Transmission Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences. This candidate is unlikely to win in the first round due to the large number of candidates, and in the second round there is a high probability of voting for any candidate against the one imposed by the authorities, Gelfand believes. Kovalchuk was repeatedly not elected as a full academician and was not approved as director of the Institute of Crystallography, Kashin recalls. “The Kurchatov Center receives enormous funding and is not accountable to anyone except the country's top officials. The Academy of Sciences is critical of the content of some of the center’s scientific research, but due to the special status of the center, it does not have the opportunity to influence its work,” says Kashin. According to the Accounts Chamber, in 2016 the Kurchatov Institute spent 14 billion rubles. budget money. It is financed by a separate budget item.
The era of extensive development of science ended 30 years ago, with the fall of the Soviet Union, now there is not enough money for everyone, so we need to choose priorities, a presidential administration official counters the claims. The academicians themselves were unable to do this: in response to a request to select 5-7 “breakthrough” priority areas, they brought, in fact, a 300-page annual report on the scientific activities of the academy, adding that everything they do is a priority, he continues. “With this formulation of the issue, they force officials to determine priorities for funding for them. Let them not be offended now,” says Vedomosti’s interlocutor.
Representatives of FANO and Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, who oversees science in the government, as well as the press service of the Russian Academy of Sciences, declined to comment.
Dropped out of the election race and became one of the vice-presidents of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The general meeting began at almost one o'clock in the afternoon instead of the planned 12:00 - the new President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Alexander Sergeev, was late at a meeting of the Russian government.
“The main impression I received from this meeting was the desire of the authorities to begin working with the newly elected president and presidium as quickly as possible,”
- Sergeev noted, opening the meeting at the RAS.
He also conveyed greetings to those present from Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom he met on Wednesday, September 27. “The President told me: tomorrow be sure to say that the Academy of Sciences is the headquarters of science, the country needs it, we will help in every possible way so that the Academy of Sciences again takes its rightful place. Based on the style of conversation, I really felt that we were very needed,” said Sergeev.
Sergeev has 11 candidates for the position of vice-president, including academician Alexei Khokhlov, who was previously one of the candidates for president of the Russian Academy of Sciences, but then his candidacy was rejected. In addition to him, the list included Valery Bondur,. Nikolai Dolgushkin was also proposed for the post of chief scientific secretary of PRAN.
The average age of the candidates was 64 years.
“A certain number of young people should appear on the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences for whom this work will be the main one.
I would like you to listen very carefully and kindly to my proposal on the composition of the presidium,” Sergeev noted. He also emphasized that not a single name “from above” was given to him.
The list of candidates for the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences under the presidential quota (30 people) included all the candidates for President of the Russian Academy of Sciences - Vladislav, Evgeniy,. In addition, Sergeev suggested Zhores and Grigory Trubnikov. The hall unanimously supported the proposed candidates.
Voting was supposed to take place from 15:00 to 17:00, and the results were planned to be announced at 17:30-18:00. However, voting began only after 16:30 - there were no ballots. According to the official version, the delay was caused by too much paperwork.
“The Academy has doubled in size, but has not become twice as efficient,” “This has never happened in 20 years,”
— the academicians were talking indignantly among themselves.
Sergeev was afraid that he would not have time to vote: his press conference was scheduled for 18:00. However, at 17:30 he still managed to do this, and the press conference was postponed to a later time.
Despite the fact that Sergeev called on those present over the speakerphone not to disperse in order to maintain a quorum, some members of the academy could not stand the long wait. So, at about half past five the corresponding member left the meeting. However, a quorum was eventually reached. Around six in the evening, those gathered finally managed to vote.
The remaining academicians, resigned, awaited the results of the vote. By half past eight only 70% of the votes had been counted. The results were announced only at 21:20. They were announced by the chairman of the counting commission, Alexander Lisitsa.
To become vice president, candidates needed to receive a minimum of 569 votes. All candidates proposed by Sergeev coped with this task. Adrianov received the most votes - 1081, Khokhlov received the fewest votes - 952.
Academicians Dynkin, Egorov, Kirpichnikov, Kozlov, Lachuga, Smirnov, Starodubov, Stempkovsky, Tishkov, Tkachuk, Fortov, Shcherbakov became the secretaries of the RAS departments.
The Presidium of the RAS included academicians Abramova, Aldoshin, Aliev, Alferov, Bagaev, Bortnikov, Gulyaev, Dekabuadze, Dedov, Dolgushkin, Zabrotsky, Zeleny, Ivanov, Izmailov, Kablov, Kaprin, Kashevarov, Krasnikov, Kulikov, Kulchin, Logarkov, Litvak, Logachev, Makarov, Markovich, Matveev, Matishov, Mesyats, Mikrin, Mikhailov, Moldovan, Mushnikov, Nigmatulin, Onishchenko, Panchenko, Poptsov, Parfiryev, Potapov, Rozhnov, Romanenko, Rubakov, Rumyantsev, Rokovanov, Sagdeev, Sadovnichy, Solomonov, Taimanov, Trubnikov, Tutelyan, Fesinin, Khomich, Tsivadze, Chetverushkin, Choinzonov, Shlyakhto.
Earlier, on September 26, the director of the Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Alexander Sergeev, stood in the election of the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Sergeev was considered one of the favorites of the race. Academician Khokhlov, who dropped out of the list of candidates, called on his supporters to vote for Sergeev.
“Wanting to ensure the development of the Russian Academy of Sciences as a modern organization, we decided to combine our efforts in the campaign for the election of the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences and in the subsequent period,”
- said Khokhlov.
The former president of the Academy also supported Sergeev’s candidacy.
“When choosing a president, we must pay special attention to the fact that this should be a major scientist who enjoys our respect and will enjoy the respect of the authorities,” he said at the General Meeting on September 25.
The elections took place in two rounds; in the first, Sergeev and Robert Nigmatulin were in the lead with 681 and 276 votes, respectively. The smallest number of votes (152) was given to Evgeniy Kablov.
In the second round, candidates needed 746 votes to win. Sergeev received 1045 votes, Nigmatulin - 412.
On Wednesday, the President of the Russian Federation signed a decree approving Sergeev as head of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
