President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Gennady Krasnikov: “Everything I spoke about, I begin to fulfill”

The Russian Academy of Sciences has had its say. The new President of the Russian Academy of Sciences was elected, and in the very first round. They became Gennady Krasnikov, for whom almost half a thousand people voted more than for the second candidate, Dmitry Markovich. Correspondent “MK” watched the course of the election campaign.

The Academy, probably, did not know such intensity of passions yet. Just as life in the country as a whole is changing, old patterns are cracking, so this respected organization was changing before our eyes. There were those who wanted everything to continue as before. But the new time has set new conditions: to raise science in the country as a matter of urgency. No other is given.

When there were three contenders for the main post at the Academy: Gennady Krasnikov, Dmitry Markovich, and the current President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Sergeev, a sharp confrontation arose between the two leaders of this trio. Candidates spent the past summer living on wheels, getting acquainted with all the regional and thematic departments of the Academy. How they both endured it all is incomprehensible to the mind – sparks flew!

What were they fighting for? After all, the programs of Krasnikov and Sergeev are similar, Gennady Yakovlevich himself spoke about this at one of the pre-election meetings with scientists: “Fundamentally, our programs are no different, except perhaps in nuances.” So, the essence lies in the personalities themselves.

We all found ourselves in the most severe conditions of various kinds of sanctions, it is time to urgently catch up with the West. Who, if not a person who combines the vast experience of a production worker and a scientist, will be able to cope with this? Therefore, the main rate of scientists was made on Krasnikov. He is a microelectronics engineer, many have been in contact with him for decades. In the forefront are the defenders. No matter how they reproached Gennady Yakovlevich for the lack of his own, Russian gadgets, he did what the state allocated funds for. First of all, for products to protect our borders. Who forged our modern weapons – “Sarmatians” and “Daggers”? It could not have done without the Mikron enterprise, which Krasnikov led for many years. Secondly – representatives of the space industry, for whom his company supplied domestic microelectronics, and thirdly – financiers, transport workers. “Do you use bank cards and Troika cards? Gennady Yakovlevich once asked me. “So this is also our product.” In general, even at the stage of nominating candidates, Krasnikov received a credit of trust from most of the departments. Fewer people immediately voted for Sergeyev. But he, in spite of everything, also really wanted to win, in order, according to him, to continue the work he had begun. I wanted to literally until the last day.

On September 19, the day before voting day, Sergeyev delivered a speech full of allusions. Taking advantage of his verbal fog, completely unfounded information was thrown into the academic community that Alexander Mikhailovich was forced to leave. This allegedly undermines the foundations and traditions of the Academy, which means that it is urgent to boycott the elections. “On the Internet (it was about the new website of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which until the last day was led by Alexander Sergeev and Vice President Alexei Khokhlov – ed.) There was a call to ignore the elections,” said at the end of the first day of the General Meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences, its chairman, Academician Vladimir Starodubov. “This is a destructive position that can have unpredictable consequences.” There was a smell of the threat of complete annihilation of the Academy. In general, Starodubov urged everyone not to succumb to provocation and continue to participate in the elections.

Academics and Correspondents are not the type to be easily led astray. They have long been waiting for the state to pay attention to them. In the institutes that are engaged in the most sensitive developments for our industry, since February, many have been working almost seven days a week. And if they themselves nominated a self-confident academician, whose candidacy was also approved by the government, then why is it necessary to refuse to vote for him only because Sergeyev (for reasons known only to him) did not want to continue the fight? He was calmly greeted with applause, gossiped on the sidelines about this strange act and set their sights on the next day of voting.

On September 20, already at 10.30, when 1135 people registered at the entrance to the Great Hall of the Russian Academy of Sciences on Leninsky, 32 (only 1005 people were enough for a quorum), it became clear that the academicians had confidently made their main choice – to save the Academy. And at 14.00 it became clear with whom exactly they want to preserve and strengthen it. The chairman of the counting commission Dmitry Novikov announced that in two hours of voting, out of 1396 ballots distributed, 1390 were thrown into the ballot box. With ticks for Krasnikov, there were 871 of them, for Dmitry Markovich – 397, another 122 ballots were invalid. Thus, Gennady Krasnikov won in the first round by a wide margin from his only opponent. “Everything that I said in my pre-election speeches, I begin to fulfill from today or tomorrow, together with you. And I would like to become president for each of you,” Gennady Krasnikov said immediately after his election.

He expressed gratitude for the trust placed in him, diplomatically thanked Sergeev for his work at the academy in “really difficult times”, Robert Nigmatulin (he was the fourth nominee from the Academy, but the government did not approve his candidacy) and, of course, Dmitry Markovich. “He did a lot, and I know that he really worried sincerely for the fate of the academy. I hope that together with Dmitry Markovich we will not only find a common language, but together we will make the best out of my and his programs, ”Krasnikov said in conclusion. Now it’s time for the Academy to choose a new lineup of vice presidents.