Russian scientists complained to the President of deputies
Famous Russian scientists, members of the academic “Club July 1,” opposed the bill “United Russia” about changing the election procedure of the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In an open letter to President Vladimir Putin academics claim that the position of the opaque “harmonization” of candidates with the government of the Russian Federation “turn elections into a fiction” and “doing part in the vote meaningless.” The authors believe the bill is “an attempt to humiliate the Academy” and asked the deputies to vote against the draft, and the President not to sign it.
The treatment given to “Kommersant” members “of the Club on 1 July” — an informal Association of academicians and corresponding member, disagreed with the reform of the RAS. There are many leading Russian scientists, including several members of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The letter is addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Chairman of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko and speaker of the state Duma Vyacheslav Volodin. The authors reported that Russian scientists “of great concern” the bill on the new procedure of electing the head of the RAS, introduced on Tuesday a group of deputies from “United Russia”. Part of the proposed amendments academics support, however, major changes called “unacceptable and contrary to the democratic traditions of Russian Academy of Sciences”.
First of all, the outrage among academics is the norm on the provisional “approval” of the list of candidates with the government of the Russian Federation. “Branches of the Academy choose the worthy scientists, generate the voting list, and now we impose some coordination at the top, and without details, explained in an interview with “Kommersant” one of the authors of the letter, academician Vladimir Zakharov. — Who agrees on what criteria is not clear”.
Scientists also criticized the provision on the legislative limitation of the number of presidential candidates ran. The MPs suggest that after the passage of the “agreement” remained a maximum of three people. “Now the elections have nominated five people on the way to sixth. It’s all reputable, well-known scientists — says Mr. Zakharov. — It turns out that three of them you withdraw from the election, and it is not clear for what reasons”.
“These rules make our right to elect the President of the Russian Academy of science fiction, polls replace actual appointment and do part in the vote meaningless,” the letter reads. The authors urge the State Duma to vote against the bill, the Federation Council not to approve the law, and the President of the Russian Federation not to sign it. “This law is an obvious desire to humiliate the Academy, says Mr. Zakharov. — Say, you are there to play in elections, and decide we still”.
We will remind, earlier one of the authors of the bill, MP Gennady Onishchenko in an interview with “Kommersant” declared that the law reflected a balance between the interests of the government and the Academy. “The government is funding this and should have a guarantee that the head will monitor the performance of assigned tasks and to properly dispose of the funds,” — he said “Kommersant”.
In his opinion, the authorities and so went toward academics as had the right to go to its intended purpose, “the head of the organization”. While Gennady Onishchenko does not consider a problem the lack of “harmonization” of clear criteria. “Coordination in the government has a long history and does not require legislative regulation,” — said the Deputy.
Alexander Black