The General Meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences began with a rebuke to the Minister of Science

The General Meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences on Leninsky 32 suddenly began abruptly on Tuesday.

Let us recall that this was the first General Meeting after the election of Academician Gennady Krasnikov as President of the Russian Academy of Sciences last fall.

After the words of welcome were delivered by Deputy Prime Minister Belousov, First Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov and Minister of Science and Higher Education Valery Falkov, Gennady Krasnikov asked Falkov to convene a meeting in the near future about the problems that had accumulated with the scientific fleet. Valery Nikolaevich nodded approvingly, but even after that he was not allowed to leave the podium. The word out of turn, directly from the hall was taken by the scientific director of the Institute of Oceanology. Shirshov RAS Robert Nigmatullin and very emotionally expressed to the minister, it seems, everything that was boiling over. He informed his founder (since 2013, all the institutes of the academy were transferred to the jurisdiction of FASO, and then the ministry) about the many years of double underfunding of science, the disruption of expeditions. Nigmatullin also voiced one very remarkable detail. It turns out that recently the relevant ministry has begun to require mental health certificates from employees of institutes. This, apparently, greatly offended scientists and academicians. According to Robert Iskanderovich, this has never happened and it is not clear why such a requirement has arisen now. Nigmatullin also warned the audience that Falkov and other government officials were already about to leave, to show respect for the General Assembly, and not to leave without listening to the report of the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences. His speech was met with thunderous applause.