Russia faces growing brain drain
Xinhua, March 24, 2015 Adjust font size:
Russia has been confronted with increasing brain drain in recent years caused mostly by financial reasons, president of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Fortov said Tuesday.
"In the recent 1.5 years (the brain drain) has been the most painful," Fortov told the Russia-24 TV channel.
He attributed scientists' drive for overseas employment to the "incomparable" level of salaries, which in Russia are "times less" than in leading western countries.
Meanwhile, Fortov dismissed allegations that Russian scholars are leaving the country in fear of prosecution from law enforcement agencies.
"I wouldn't say there is any kind of witch hunt, though some people are actually being prosecuted for unclear reasons, allegedly for information leaks," he said.
Fortov called for the expansion of participation of Russian scientists in international scientific and research projects, especially in physics, mathematics, energy, machine building and others.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who took part in the Academy Board's meeting Tuesday, said he is ready to discuss the problems Russian scientific community faces.
"I am ready to discuss the problems of any scientific organization if misunderstanding with other government bodies emerges," the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.
The Russian government allocated 350 billion rubles (about 5.9 billion U.S. dollars) for scientific researches in 2015. Endi