MOSCOW, July 1 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian Academy of Sciences on Monday harshly criticized a state proposal to revamp its nationwide network of research institutions, calling the plans “radical and destructive.”
The proposed restructuring, through which a newly formed state agency headed by the prime minister would gain control of the academy’s 500 scientific institutes, “would lead … to destruction and degradation of the country’s scientific and defense potential and national safety,” the academy’s presidium said in an online statement.
The government has long accused the academy of ineffectiveness, an allegation backed by many Russian scientists unaffiliated with the network.
Russian-born Nobel Prize-winning physicist Andre Geim told RIA Novosti on Monday that, while he agreed that the academy was ineffective, there was a disquieting uncertainty about the role and function of the state agency that would overtake many of the academy’s functions.
“The uncertainty over this most important feature of the reorganization makes every Russian scientist anxious and worrying,” Geim said by email.
Last week, draft legislation for the restructuring was submitted to Russia’s lower house of parliament. The ruling United Russia party said that the bill could be passed before the legislature recesses for summer vacation. But on Monday, the party took an about-face, saying the bill’s critical second reading had been postponed until the fall.
The academy in its statement admitted that a reform was needed but rapped the government for not presenting the text of the bill to the academy or the general public before submitting it to the parliament.
Meanwhile, the Communist Party on Monday said its faction in the lower house of parliament would have the prime minister’s cabinet impeached over the reform, which it denounced as “plans for a pogrom … at the academy.”
A senior member of the United Russia party, which has a majority in the parliament, called the Communists’ impeachment proposal “an attempt to attract attention.” United Russia is headed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who has backed the reform.
