Russia has Lost 50,000 Scientists Over Last Five Years, More than Any Other Country, Academy of Sciences Vice President Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 18 – Despite the Kremlin’s talk about “technological sovereignty, Valentina Parmona, the vice president of the Russian Academy of Sciences and president of the Siberian Division of the Academy, says, Russia has lost about 50,000 scientists over the last five years, more than any other country and the very people who might make that happen.

            She says that she hopes the Kremlin, the government and the Duma will meet with approval the Academy’s call for dramatically increased funding as a most important means of stemming this decline and putting Russia on the road that the country’s leaders say they are committed to (interfax.ru/russia/902007 and nakanune.ru/news/2023/5/19/22716845/).

            An increase in funding might help stem this decline, but it is unlikely to be enough to overcome the  other factors that are playing a role in driving people out of science in Russia: international isolation, general repression and increasing repression against scientists as a group. Unless that changes, Russia is likely to continue to bleed scientists and fall further behind.