Oceanologists hold on to their shore – Newspaper Kommersant No. 43 (7488) of 03/15/2023

The staff of the Southern Branch of the Institute of Oceanology (IO) asks President Vladimir Putin to prevent the alienation of the property complex of the Institute of Oceanology in favor of the National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute”. Earlier, the president of Kurchatnik, Mikhail Kovalchuk, asked the Ministry of Education and Science to transfer the property of oceanologists in the Gelendzhik region to the institution he heads in order to form an “experimental coastal research and development base in the interests of defense and security.” In a letter to the head of state, scientists from the IO RAS argue that the transfer will have a negative impact on the fulfillment of state tasks, including defense ones.

“The labor collective asks for support in protecting the interests of the IO RAS and all Russian science,” the letter (Kommersant has it) from employees of the Southern Branch of the Institute to Russian President Vladimir Putin says. “We ask you to take measures to prevent the alienation of the property complex of the IO RAS in favor of NRC “Kurchatov Institute” or other business entities.

At the end of January, Mikhail Kovalchuk, President of the National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute”, applied to the Ministry of Education and Science with a request to transfer the property complex of the Southern Branch of the IO RAS to his jurisdiction. In the letter, he recalled that the state had set the task for the Kurchatov Institute to deploy a complex of corrosion-climatic stations in several regions of Russia for “materials science research in the interests of the defense and security of the Russian Federation.” Mr. Kovalchuk said that the institute had decided to establish a Gelendzhik branch “to form an experimental base on the territory of the Black Sea coast.” The property complex of the Southern Branch of the IO RAS is suitable for Kurchatnik to fulfill its tasks, and its transfer will reduce the time for the start of research and save budget funds, the letter said. In mid-February, the Ministry of Education and Science asked the Institute of Oceanology to provide its position on the proposal of Kurchatnik.

The letters of Mr. Kovalchuk and the Ministry of Education and Science are published on the IO RAS website. It also says that the Institute “categorically disagrees with the alienation of its regional division.” The team emphasizes that the territory of the Southern Branch was specially transferred to the Institute “at the end of the difficult post-war 40s of the XX century and for a long time was equipped for a wide range of oceanological research.”

“Under the guise of a list of ephemeral studies that allegedly have “strategic importance for ensuring the security of the state,” a raider seizure of valuable territory on the Black Sea coast is taking place,” the letter from scientists from the IO RAS says. “Even a person far from science and technology understands that a large part of those listed (in a letter from Mr. Kovalchuk.— “b”) research can be carried out on any of the free areas of the numerous Russian seas. The creation on the territory of the Southern Branch of a certain “experimental coastal research and development base in the interests of the defense and security of the Russian Federation” seems to be “an absolutely far-fetched reason for interfering in the affairs of our institute,” Mikhail Flint. “The official version says that the NRC Kurchatov Institute is planning to conduct studies of marine corrosion,” he points out. “But in fact, research of this kind does not require an area of ​​20 hectares and seven large laboratory buildings. In truth, all this “anti-corrosion” history occupies a small experimental site – a piece of the coast, a small part of the water area and two rooms. All the same, serious analyzes are being carried out in Moscow.” “The Kurchatov Institute already has one test site there. What prevents them from creating another one, if they need it? Alexei Sokov, director of the IO RAS, is perplexed. “For such research, one does not need to have a huge property complex. A corrosive polygon is a field on which different materials lie. Scientists then take samples and determine the degree of corrosion in the natural environment.”

Alexei Sokov told Kommersant that without the Southern Branch it would be difficult for the institute to conduct research: “We live according to state assignments. What are we going to do with them now? How will we fulfill them? Will they be circumcised, torn down, or left unfulfilled?” Mr. Sokov recalled that the institute was assigned the fulfillment of the state defense order, which would be impossible to fulfill if “the institution is taken away.”

According to Mikhail Flint, the IO RAS and Kurchatnik have been jointly engaged in scientific research in the Russian Arctic at the bottom of the Kara Sea for 20 years. “Specialists of the Kurchatov Institute work on our ships, are engaged in the study of radioactivity, we work in the field of assessing the characteristics of the marine environment and ecology. It is not clear what prevents the Kurchatov Institute from cooperating with us in the Southern Branch,” he wonders. “We propose such an algorithm, but have not received an answer.” According to Aleksey Sokov, representatives of Kurchatnik did not discuss this issue directly with the institute.

Anastasia Pechalova, press secretary of the head of the Russian Academy of Sciences Gennady Krasnikov, told Kommersant that the topic was discussed by members of the academy at the last presidium. “After the presidium, the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences spoke on this topic with the Minister of Science Valery Falkov,” the press secretary said. “As far as we know, no decisions have been made on this issue yet. It is under discussion, consultations are underway between all parties on it.” “For the Russian Academy of Sciences, when solving this issue, the priority is to guarantee the preservation of existing scientific schools and the continuation of their research,” Ms. Pechalova emphasized.

The Ministry of Education and Science told Kommersant that now “an optimal model is being developed for using the property complex of the Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the interests of both scientific organizations.” As emphasized in the department, “the main task in this case is to act in the interests of the state and get practical scientific results as quickly as possible.”

The Kurchatov Institute did not respond to Kommersant’s request.

Recall that in early February, the government transferred seven important scientific institutes to the jurisdiction of Kurchatnik at once, which in 2013, as part of the reform of the Russian Academy of Sciences, were subordinated to the FASO, and then to the Ministry of Education and Science. The ministry explains this decision by the desire to “combine the efforts of scientific teams in the creation of advanced domestic technologies.” The academy feared such a reassignment last year – however, in February they announced that the Russian Academy of Sciences would continue to provide scientific and methodological guidance in these research institutes.

Anna Vasilyeva; Anna Perova, Krasnodar