Who became the new academician of the wounds. Academicians of RAS: list. Full members of RAS. Election of Academicians of the Russian Academy of Sciences. What does an academic title give

It was not without accusations of nepotism, but for science it turned out to be not so scary

The Academy of Sciences has gotten pretty worn out over the years of reform that began in 2013. For five years she did not elect new members, and the old ones died ... They say that in recent years, in connection with this sad statistics, a hundred (!) Vacancies have been vacated. Now the time has come for rejuvenation, for the arrival of young members of correspondents and academicians who are ready to fight for science. Did the hopes of the scientific community come true, weren't random people on the lists of the elect, who can be called scientists at a stretch? All this "MK" found out, having attended the general meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences on Leninsky Prospekt, where the elections were held.

Previously, the Academy held elections for new members every two years. The last pre-election period, due to the reform of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which began in 2013, dragged on for five whole years. Everyone was waiting, so when the go-ahead was given, 2,400 applications were received at once. 13 branches of the big Academy presented their candidacies. However, according to the results of the third round of voting, there were 500 of them left - about 200 were determined for the vacancy of "academician" and 300 - "corresponding member". The Academy was faced with the task of rejuvenating the RAS for 5 years, and it did it. If before the elections the average age of academicians was approaching 75, now it has smoothly approached 70. Corresponding members have lowered their average age from 70 to 65 years.

“These elections are essentially revolutionary,” says the gerontologist. Vladimir Khavinson, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, - after all, a large number of people under the age of 51 are involved. And I support this decision. After all, at the institute it is necessary not only to study science, but also to equip laboratories, get reagents, laboratory animals ... For a person over 70 years old, this is already energetically difficult, he needs young strength. "

"No" glitches "- just did not agree"

But this, as they say, is the opinion of the older generation. And what will the youth say about the elections? “There were no“ glitches ”and falsifications,” one of the young members of the academy (he is about 40 years old) shared with us, “I am satisfied with the elections in our department of chemistry. For whom I am especially happy? For our young candidates who have become members of the correspondent - for Volodya Ivanov, director of the Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry, his colleague Yulia Gorbunova, for whom this was already the second or third attempt. One disappointment - some vacancies for which talented scientists could apply, simply did not appear. And there were many applicants, and due to the struggle of scientific schools among themselves, none of the candidates received the required number of votes. This is how neither academicians nor corresponding members appeared in our department in physical chemistry and in one of the sections of the department of materials. "

A similar situation occurred in the energy department and in other departments. Several possible vacancies, in fact, disappeared only due to the fact that people could not "agree in advance" - so the majority thinks. “This is all due to a lack of information,” says the academician-biotechnologist. Alexey Egorov... - There are many specific new directions in science, and not everyone knows about them. As well as about the people who deal with them. The candidates need to present themselves more actively. "

Is nepotism always good for science?

But where academics have surpassed themselves in sociability, it is in the medical department: it turned out to be the largest number of members and the least of all missed vacancies. Apparently, it was not difficult to come to an agreement: judging by the electoral lists, a good half of the already existing academicians brought their offspring to the vacancies of correspondent members, they are preparing a change for themselves.

Thus, Professor Alexei Tutelyan, the son of the director of the Institute of Nutrition of the Russian Academy of Sciences Viktor Tutelyan, the son of the director of the State Scientific Center for Dermatovenerology and Cosmetology Anna Kubanova, was elected as Corresponding Members (they say that the counting commission, which determined candidates for a Corresponding Member, was set up right in the mother's office). .. But the daughter of the renowned doctor Academician Chazov, Irina Chazova, went even further - to become an academician.

Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Anna Kubanova ...

And her son, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexei Kubanov. Photo: cnikvi.ru

“As for Kubanov, I can’t say anything about him, I don’t know him, they say that he was re-elected and he passed with great difficulty,” clinician Vladimir Khavinson comments on this continuity of generations. - RAS is large, of course, there is one percent of "special" cases ... Daughters, sons ... But this is an insignificant percentage, according to which it is impossible to paint the general picture. Those people are no better or worse than others, they just got an administrative advantage ... But as for Irina Chazova, she definitely deserves the title of academician, she has a huge number of published works. Believe me, I am not saying this in terms of toadying, I am an independent person. "

Also, my interlocutor singled out Musa Khaitov, a professor from the Institute of Epidemiology, the son of Academician Rakhim Khaitov, among those worthy of the title of Corresponding Member. “My son, like his father, is a very clever fellow,” several acting members of the Russian Academy of Sciences, without saying a word, confirmed to me the words of Khavinson. Moreover, the son's father was a scientific consultant. It turns out that dynasties in medicine are not always bad.

Almost in chorus, I was praised by one of the best surgeons in Russia, the chief physician of the Botkin hospital, Alexei Shabunin, who was elected a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Andrei Lisitsa, who became the academician of the director of the Institute of Biomedical Chemistry. The latter seems to have set the age record - this newly minted pundit is only forty! And no patronage! They say that earlier, in the USSR, such 30-40-year-old academicians were elected to the Academy, so now a start has been made.

Another unique record was set by the director of the Institute of Preventive Medicine Sergei Boytsov, he was nominated for the vacancy of a corresponding member during five (!) Election campaigns and finally passed.

Where to go? For such a long time that there were no elections in the Academy, more than a hundred people have died in it, according to Vladimir Khatskelevich, it is necessary to fill the gap. “The nation is aging, civilization is aging, and meanwhile, the RAS did not introduce gerontology as a separate vacancy this time. I am the only gerontologist at the Academy, and this is outrageous! "

The office of director Anna Kubanova, where the votes for her son were counted.

"No suspicions about Dvorkovich"

The Department of Physics is very happy for the director of the country's largest Institute of Nuclear Physics named after V.I. Budker RAS, 51-year-old Pavel Logachev.

The department of nanotechnology and information technology regrets that the most worthy of this title scientist Alexander Sobolev from the Institute of Gene Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences did not become a Corresponding Member. “It was evident that he was a very worthy person, but somehow they didn’t know him well,” commented member of the RAS Presidium Academician Alexander Aseev... - As a result, a more famous scientist took his place. It is important to be known in science ”. I ask him a question about the scandalously large number of dynasties in the Russian Academy of Sciences among doctors. “This is in the tradition of the medical department,” he replies, “they recently joined us (the big academy) ... But you know, this is not always bad. Let me give you an example from one of the sections of our department, where A.V. Dvorkovich was elected a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Do not think that this is our Deputy Prime Minister - we are talking about his nephew. And no one had any suspicions that someone was moving him, this rather young man himself worked very well in the field of information technology. "

When Crimea is not quite ours

The charter of the Academy says that the title of "Academician" and "Corresponding Member" is given to a scientist "for his contribution to Russian science." Based on this, the five leading Crimean scientists who have invested in Ukrainian science in recent years, alas, were not given a place in the RAS. An exception was made only for the rector of the former Crimean Medical University Anatoly Babanin (he was elected Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences), Director of the Magarach Institute of Viticulture and Winemaking Anatoly Avidzba (Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences), Director of the Institute of Hydrophysics Viktor Egorov (Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences) and Director of the Nikitsky Botanical Garden Yuri Plugatar (Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences).

“At one time, back in 2007, I was elected a foreign member of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and now, as they say in sports, I have taken a black belt: I have become a full member of the large Russian Academy of Sciences,” says Anatoly Avidzba, a newly made full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. - It's a shame that some of my colleagues, whom I also considered worthy of this title, were not chosen. I especially regret the candidacy of Fyodor Fedorovich Adamen, who passed through the agricultural department. He is a very famous scientist, a talented agronomist ”.

Well, what can I say to that? They say that not everything is measured by titles, for example, Doctor Leonid Roshal has neither the title of member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, nor academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, but everyone already knows and respects him.

The main thing now for the rejuvenated domestic science is to urgently resolve the issue of organizing their work. Whatever one may say, the RAN-FANO tandem does not add up. This means that someone has to give in. The essence of the proposal, voiced during the general meeting within the walls of the Russian Academy of Sciences, is to remove all academic science from under the Ministry of Education, to create a separate Ministry of Science or the Committee on Science and Technology, and to make FANO one of its structural divisions so that the economic component does not in no way dominated over scientific creativity.

Among those who became a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences are a member of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs Arnold Tulokhonov, as well as the head of the main military medical department of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Alexander Fisun.

“There were 25 officials running, 14 elections were held, the rest did not pass. Tulokhonov (Arnold), Senator of the Federation Council, was running, he passed. Then, Fisun (Alexander) ran for office - this is the head of the main medical department of the Ministry of Defense. He is a colonel, professor, a very famous military scientist. Recently he became the head of the main medical department of the army, "Paltsev told TASS.

Tulokhonov received the title of academician in the department of earth sciences, in particular, geography. Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor and Head of the Department of Outpatient and Polyclinic Care of the Institute for Advanced Training of Doctors of the I. P.V. Mandryka Fisun became a corresponding member in the department of medical sciences, in the field of health care organization and medical education.

On Wednesday, at a meeting of the Council for Science and Education, Russian President Vladimir Putin asked RAS President Vladimir Fortov why, contrary to the presidential recommendation, several officials were elected to the ranks of academicians. He noted that he intends to provide such officials "with the opportunity to engage in science", since their scientific activities are clearly much more important than "the performance of some routine administrative duties in the authorities and administration."

The head of state said that, contrary to his instructions, some representatives of the Administration of the Head of State, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, the FSB and a number of other departments took part in the election to the Academy of Sciences.

Now in the Russian departments they are looking for the ways of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, who is dissatisfied with the officials.

Meanwhile, the press secretary of the Russian president assessed the chances of officials elected to the RAS to keep their posts in parallel. "There is no clarity on this issue yet," he said, answering a question from Izvestia.

Fortov, President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, noted that he was confident in the high level of scientific knowledge possessed by all the elected members of the Academy. And that every elected member of the RAS goes through a very complicated and difficult procedure. His scientific merits are discussed in 11 different places, and 6 times there is a secret vote on this person. “If colleagues have chosen these people, then I have no reason to doubt their scientific level,” he said.

Paltsev added that the title of academician was given to Doctor of Biological Sciences, Deputy Minister of Education and Science Alexei Lopatin, who from 2006 to 2015 was Deputy Director for Research at the V. A. A. Borisyak RAS.

In addition to Fisun, Corresponding Members were Doctor of Medical Sciences, Head of the Main Medical Directorate of the Presidential Property Management Department Konstantin Kotenko (formerly Director General of the A.I.Burnazyan Federal Medical Biophysical Center), Doctor of Law, Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Savenkov, Doctor of Law, Head of the Department of Registration and Archival Funds of the FSB Vasily Khristoforov, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Director of the Department of Science, Innovative Development and Management of Biomedical Health Risks of the Ministry of Health Sergei Rumyantsev.

Also corresponding members were Doctor of Technical Sciences and Deputy Head of Roshydromet Alexander Makosko, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor, Deputy Director of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research Igor Sheremet. Olga Kovtun, elected a corresponding member, held the post of Minister of Health of the Perm Territory until August 2016.

Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences are elected by voting for a four-year term. You can leave this title if the scientist informs about it and the majority votes for this decision during the General Meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

In total, the RAS was replenished with 518 new members and began to number more than 2300 people. The average selection competition reached four applicants for the announced vacancy, but in some specialties it reached 10.

Of the new replenishment, the lion's share (over 400) falls on the central part of Russia (the overwhelming part is Moscow and St. Petersburg) and several dozen vacancies were allocated to three regional branches - Ural, Siberian (the most powerful) and Far East. (About 30 people were received from the Urals, 16 from the Far East, 38 from Siberians).

Let us note one more feature of the current elections, predetermined by the conditions for nominating candidates: a third of the newly elected full members of the RAS are under 60 years old and half of the corresponding members are under 50 years old. The scientific community was faced with the task of rejuvenating the RAS, and the goal was partially achieved. Before the elections, the average age of full members of the Academy was approaching 75 years, now it is about 70. The composition of corresponding members has lowered the average age from 70 to 65 years.

Among the newly elected members of the RAS (including the Siberian Branch), as never before, there are many heads of scientific institutions. This is also understandable, because in the five years that have passed since the previous elections, there has been a radical rejuvenation of the leadership of the directors of institutes belonging to the department of FANO (Federal Agency for Scientific Organizations).

Here is how the chairman of the Siberian Branch, Academician Alexander Aseev, has already commented on the fact of the election of new members of the RAS:

“I think the elections were extremely successful for the Siberian branch. Worthy candidates have passed, the "young wave" is especially happy - we have fulfilled and even exceeded all age requirements.

We again have fifty-year-old academicians, one of whom is Pavel Logachev, he heads the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the SB RAS - one of the largest in the country.

It is important that Muscovites appreciate us: according to the vacancies in the central part of the RAS, academicians Alexander Anikin, Valery Vernikovsky, Arnold Tulokhonov became academicians. And entering a new period of turbulence associated with the completion of the three-year period of the RAS reform, we have significantly strengthened. "

In mid-September, a preliminary selection of candidates was held at the regional, Siberian level. And at the beginning of last week in Moscow at the meetings of the branches of science, the final selection of candidates for voting at the General Meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences took place, and on Friday the voting results were finally announced. In general, the election of new members of the RAS, in spite of all the democratism of this scientific structure, is a very complex and multi-stage matter. They begin with the filing of an application, as a rule, of a very well-known scientist who has a solid baggage of scientific discoveries, developments, publications and students. So the age of the applicants is already mature. But there are also cases when outstanding scientists a little over 30 years old became members of the Academy, as happened at one time with the Novosibirsk nuclear physicist Alexander Skrinsky.

The process of replenishing the academic ranks according to the Charter of the RAS should take place every two years, but after the reform of 2013 and the merger of three state academies into one whole (RAS, RAAS and RAMS), a three-year moratorium was declared, and therefore this year's elections became the first in the last five years. ...

Full members (academicians) of the RAS were elected:
- Director of the Institute of Thermophysics. S. S. Kutateladze SB RAS Sergei Vladimirovich Alekseenko,
- Head of the sector of the Institute of Philology of the SB RAS Alexander Evgenievich Anikin,
- Director of the Institute of Mongolian Studies, Buddhology and Tibetology SB RAS Boris Vandanovich Bazarov,
- Director of the Research Institute of Mental Health Nikolay Aleksandrovich Bokhan,
- Director of the Institute of Catalysis. G. K. Boreskova SB RAS Valery I. Bukhtiyarov,
- Head of the laboratory of the Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics named after A. A. Trofimuka Valery Arnoldovich Vernikovsky,

Director of the Research Institute of Therapy and Preventive Medicine Mikhail Ivanovich Voevoda,
- Director of the Institute of Mathematics. S. L. Sobolev SB RAS Sergei Savostyanovich Goncharov,
- Director of the Yamalo-Nenets branch of INGG SB RAS Oleg Mikhailovich Ermilov,
- Scientific director of the Scientific Center for Family Problems and Human Reproduction Lyubov Ilyinichna Kolesnikova,
- Director of the Institute of Semiconductor Physics. A. V. Rzhanova SB RAS Alexander Vasilievich Latyshev,
- Director of the Institute of Nuclear Physics. G. I. Budker SB RAS Pavel Vladimirovich Logachev,
- Director of the International Tomographic Center of the SB RAS Viktor Ivanovich Ovcharenko,
- Head of the Laboratory of the INP SB RAS Vasily Vasilievich Parkhomchuk,
- Acting Director of the Research Institute of Cardiology Sergei Valentinovich Popov,
- Head Department of IT SB RAS Mikhail Rudolfovich Predtechensky,
- Director of the Institute of High-Current Electronics SB RAS Nikolay Alexandrovich Ratakhin,
- Scientific director of the Baikal Institute of Nature Management SB RAS Arnold Kirillovich Tulokhonov.

The following members were elected RAS Corresponding Members:
- Doctor of Medical Sciences Olga Leonidovna Barbarash (Director of the Research Institute of Complex Problems of Cardiovascular Diseases), Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Andrey Vladislavovich Boyko (Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics named after S. A. Khristianovich SB RAS),
- Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences Dmitry Petrovich Gladkochub (Director of the Institute of the Earth's Crust SB RAS),
- Doctor of Medical Sciences, Doctor of Biological Sciences Aleksey Vladimirovich Kochetov (Deputy Director of the Federal Research Center Institute of Cytology and Genetics SB RAS),
- Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences Ivan Yurievich Kulakov (INGG SB RAS),
- Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Galina Gennadievna Lazareva (Institute of Computational Mathematics and Mathematical Geophysics SB RAS),
- Doctor of Medical Sciences Vladimir Vladimirovich Lomivorotov (Deputy Director of the Research Institute of Circulatory Pathology named after E.N. Meshalkin),
- Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Andrei Evgenievich Mironov (IM SB RAS),
- Doctor of Medical Sciences Andrey Grigorievich Pokrovsky (Director of the Institute of Medicine and Psychology of NSU),
- Doctor of Medical Sciences Evgeny Anatolyevich Pokushalov (Deputy Director of NIIPK),
Doctor of Chemistry Dmitry Vladimirovich Pyshny (Deputy Director of the Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine of the SB RAS),
- Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Igor Ilyich Ryabtsev (IPP SB RAS),
- Doctor of Medical Sciences Yulia Igorevna Ragino (Deputy Director of Research Institute TPM),
- Doctor of Technical Sciences Valery Alekseevich Stennikov (Deputy Director of the Institute of Energy Systems named after L.A. Melent'ev SB RAS),
- Doctor of Medical Sciences Vadim Anatolyevich Stepanov (Acting Director of the Research Institute of Medical Genetics),
- Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Nikolai Vladimirovich Surovtsev (Institute of Automation and Electrometry SB RAS),
- Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Alexey Vladimirovich Taichenachev (Acting Director of the Institute of Laser Physics SB RAS),

Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Yuri Anatolyevich Tikhonov (Deputy Director of the INP),
- Doctor of Medical Sciences Olga Ivanovna Urazova (Professor of the Siberian Medical University),
- Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Viktor Sergeevich Fadin (INP SB RAS),
- Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Mikhail Petrovich Fedoruk (Rector of NSU),
- Doctor of Medical Sciences Nadezhda Viktorovna Cherdyntseva (Deputy Director of the Tomsk Research Institute of Oncology),
- Doctor of Historical Sciences Mikhail Vasilyevich Shunkov (Director of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography SB RAS).

Despite the Kremlin's recommendation, several prominent Russian officials have become academicians of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). These included the Deputy Minister of the Interior and the Deputy Ministers of Education and Science. Life figured out which other high-ranking representatives of the Russian bureaucracy violated a direct order from the president, and also tried to find out their motives and reaction to a possible resignation.

Russian officials work day and night not only for the good of the country, but also for the good of national science. At least, this is evidenced by the lists of academicians and corresponding members of the Russian Academy of Sciences. These included deputy ministers of the leading Russian departments, as well as other prominent civil servants.

Such zeal of officials for science caused bewilderment among President Vladimir Putin. Today, at a meeting of the relevant Presidential Council, he, in particular, said that he would give civil servants and officials who have become academicians an opportunity to engage in science.

I will have to give them the opportunity to do science. Because, apparently, their scientific activity is more important than the performance of some routine administrative duties in the authorities and administration, - the head of state explained his well-founded position.

Life analyzed the lists of current academicians and corresponding members of the Academy of Sciences and found at least five officials who in the near future will have to think about moving from responsible work in relevant ministries and departments to the Russian Academy of Sciences.

It is worth noting that during today's meeting, RAS President Vladimir Fortov confirmed that several civil servants had been elected to the Academy, namely "five-seven".

Five or seven people, like that. It depends on how you count, - said Fortov, pointing out that their further work in government posts depends on the decision of the head of state. - I believe that this is a question of the president and how satisfied he is with his employees and whether there are any claims to them.

One of the newly minted academicians, for example, is Deputy Minister of Education and Science Alexei Lopatin. He is a full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, he was elected again just recently - together with everyone, at the end of October 2016.

Lopatin's colleague in the ministry, Lyudmila Ogorodova, is also on the list of corresponding members of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Only her term of office began in 2014.

In turn, the director of the Information Policy Department of the ministry, Andrei Emelyanov, did not answer Life's question about whether Olga Vasilyeva's deputies would leave the RAS or, conversely, leave their posts in the ministry.

The press service of the ministry asked Life's correspondents to send a written request, to which there was no response either.

In addition, since 2016, the deputy head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, or, as he is also called, the "chief investigator" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Alexander Savenkov, has become a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

In principle, if Savenkov is transferred to work at the academy, then he will not lose much. He is not a poor official; the family of the head of the Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs declared 77.5 million rubles in income last year. True, the main part of these funds, according to the declaration, was contributed to the family budget by the spouse of a high-ranking police officer.

The press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs asked to send an official request.

In 2016, Vasily Khristoforov, Head of the Registration and Archival Funds Directorate of the FSB of Russia, was also elected a Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Life failed to get a comment from Khristoforov: at the time of writing, he did not answer calls and SMS messages.

Interestingly, the list of RAS Corresponding Members also includes the Minister of Healthcare Veronika Skvortsova. However, she was elected long before entering the civil service - she received scientific status back in 2004. According to Oleg Salagai, Director of the Department of Public Health and Communications of the Ministry of Health of Russia, the Minister of Health did not take part in the elections to academicians of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2016.

The ban on being elected to Academicians and Corresponding Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences affects all officials, including governors.

This applies to everyone, - Putin explained to reporters, answering the relevant question.

Life discovered that among the academicians and corresponding members there are indeed governors: the head of the Voronezh region, Alexei Gordeev, and the head of the Belgorod region, Yevgeny Savchenko.

In fact, this is not the first "yellow card" on the part of the head of state for the Russian Academy of Sciences, which chose to violate the instructions of Vladimir Putin, but not to quarrel with the influential bureaucratic class, giving them, despite all the instructions of the president, the opportunity to be elected to the Academy.

At the end of last year, Vladimir Putin already turned to his colleagues and the president of the Academy of Sciences with a request at that time.

I turned to my colleagues with a request to refrain from participating in the election of new members to the Academy of Sciences due to the fact that people who hold positions in government bodies, especially at the upper levels, are employed in the service or should at least be employed in a serious manner. , otherwise they are not able to fulfill their official duties and can only engage in scientific research in their free time, which is practically not left for people who conscientiously work in administrative positions, '' Putin recalls.

Nevertheless, at the meeting, a heated discussion broke out between the Russian leader and the head of the Russian Academy of Sciences, during which President Putin directly asked the head of the Academy of Sciences about the scientific viability of the newly elected academician officials and their expediency of being simultaneously in the academic and bureaucratic environments. To the president’s reasonable questions, Vladimir Fortov objected only to the fact that all the elected academicians and corresponding members “said that they had received permission.”

As a result, the heated discussion ended with the fact that the head of state actually raised the question of the further stay of the officials elected to the highest scientific body of the country in their current government posts due to "the more important nature of scientific activity than routine administrative work."

Political scientist Oleg Matveychev notes that, unfortunately, the Russian Academy of Sciences has turned into a purely nomenclature institution, where people are not engaged in scientific activities, but sit and talk to each other about what kind of respected people they are.

People enter the Academy of Sciences not for their scientific merits, but for old merits, for length of service, or officials who are given the title of academician as a sign of respect and honor. We can say that this entails a drain on personnel to the West. Young scientists, instead of moving up the career ladder in Russia using the base of the Russian Academy of Sciences, are forced to leave for the West. They have to do this because they run into higher academicians, not seeing further prospects, - he says, noting that the RAS should be engaged in scientific work, research, move Russian science forward, and not be a bunch of honorary chairmen.

It is important for the President to solve the problem systematically: to force the RAS to release its ballast. You can start this by getting rid of the officials in the RAS. Officials who work 16 hours a day definitely do not have the opportunity to engage in scientific activities. I am sure that these officials will resign from their duties as academicians and prefer the civil service, ”the political scientist explained.

MOSCOW, November 24 - RIA Novosti. The RAS ruled out the possibility of officials leaving the academy, since membership in it is life-long. At the same time, the organization noted that each applicant for an "academic" place made a decision to participate in the elections independently.

On the eve, President Vladimir Putin threatened to fire civil servants-academicians in order to leave them time for scientific research.

At the end of October, 25 officials ran for elections to the RAS, 14 of whom received academic titles as a result.

In particular, Senator Arnold Tulokhonov became an academician, and Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs - Head of the Investigation Department Alexander Savenkov, Head of the Registration and Archival Funds of the FSB Vasily Khristoforov and Deputy Director for Science of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research Igor Sheremet - Corresponding Members.

Only scientific work

At a meeting of the Council for Science and Education, Putin recalled that at the end of 2015 he asked his colleagues not to take part in the elections to the RAS. The head of state then explained his position by the fact that it is difficult to combine scientific and managerial activities.

"Nevertheless, some of our colleagues from the Presidential Property Management Department, from the Ministry of Education, from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, from the Ministry of Defense, from the Federal Security Service, from the FSB and from some other departments took part in the election (to the Academy of Sciences) and were elected ", - said Putin.

RAS President Vladimir Fortov told the President that all candidates had assured that they had received permission to participate in the competition. As a result, the officials passed the tests "without any exceptions or exceptions."

"I think that I will have to give them the opportunity to engage in science, because, apparently, their scientific activity is much more important than performing some routine administrative duties in the government and administration," Putin said.

"The question arises whether they can engage in scientific research in full with the desired results," the president added.

Personal initiative

Chief Scientific Secretary of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences Mikhail Paltsev said that each official made a personal decision to participate in the elections. At the same time, he admitted that the academy knew about Putin's recommendation.

"We accepted them according to scientific criteria. Everyone who participated in the elections met these requirements," Paltsev said.

According to the procedure, each applicant must speak to the academicians six times, after each speech, the current members of the academy vote on candidates.

Meanwhile, a RIA Novosti source in the Russian Academy of Sciences said that if the officials-members of the academy decide to give up the title, they will not be able to do so.

"These appeals will not be accepted at all, because they do not comply with the (RAS) charter," the agency's interlocutor said.

The head of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladimir Fortov, later said that none of the newly minted scientists had yet asked to expel him from the academy. The Office of the President of Russia will take all the necessary personnel decisions in accordance with the instructions of the President to give the opportunity to engage only in scientific activities for those representatives of the authorities who have been elected Corresponding Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Meanwhile, the presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov noted that Putin clearly stated his position on this issue.

"All relevant departments have unambiguously listened to what the president said. Now they are dealing with this situation," Peskov told reporters.

"But the ultimate goal is clearly defined by the president," concluded Peskov.

What does an academic title give

RAS is the largest state academy of sciences in Russia, now it includes 944 academicians, all of them are elected for life.

Formally, the title "Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences" is not considered an academic title, but it gives a number of privileges. Among them - the right to a monthly bonus to the official salary at the place of work.