The Russian Academy of Sciences has seen staff changes since the war began. Researchers, educators and scientists in Russia have been struggling ever since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Photo: Jens Büttner/dpa
Researchers, educators and scientists in Russia have been struggling ever since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Alongside millions of Ukrainians fleeing the attacks led by Moscow, hundreds of thousands of highly educated people have left Russia, too.
"The country has never suffered such losses," says Alexander Ausan, dean of the Faculty of Economics at Moscow's Lomonosov University.
It will take seven to 10 years to make up for the loss of all that human capital, he says – "and that's only if the brain drain does not continue".
The loss spans IT specialists, managers, journalists, scientists and lecturers. Some 200 Russian scientists have left the country with the help of the international academic network Scholars at Risk since the war began.
Germany's Humboldt Foundation organised sponsorship for six academics after the war began. Thousands of other, well-known scholars have also fled under their own steam, either because they oppose the war or are afraid of being mobilised and sent to the front.
Maria Falikman, one of Russia's best known psychologists, was one of those who left, after having taught and carried out research at Moscow's Higher School of Economics (HSE) up until last year.
By summer, she was packing her bags and moving to the United States.
"I found it hard to stay in Russia under the increased propaganda and ideological pressure," she said.Four of the HSE's nine laboratory directors have left from the psychology department alone, she says, "people who worked at an international level and also their scientific collaborators have scattered in all directions".
There are several reasons for the mass exodus, one being the loss of funding due to the war. Real expenditure on science and research has dropped by a third this year.
Now, professors are starting to complain that their salaries are being paid late. It has also become more difficult to buy equipment and laboratory materials.
Hundreds of academics have left Russian educational and research institutes, such as Moscow's Higher School of Economics, since the war on Ukraine began. Photo: Andre Ballin/dpa
Sanctions imposed due to the war also isolate Russian scientists, who can now neither publish in international journals nor access the results of their colleagues. That has driven some to leave, as they feel they have no prospects in Russia.
Others are fleeing persecution and political oppression. The HSE is a prime example of how politics is influencing education and research. Ever since it was founded in 1992, it has been seen as one of Russia's most liberal universities and is now one of the country's leading research institutes alongside the venerable Lomonosov University.
The staff were proud of the Western standards the institute upholds and their collaboration with their peers around the world.
But since Moscow's sudden change of course, the HSE has become increasingly conservative, a development that was further accelerated in 2021 with the replacement of the long-time dean Yaroslav Kuzminov by Nikita Anissimov.
Anissimov was one of the first academics to sign a letter of support for the war and when people in the university complained or resisted, they were fired.
The war has touched almost every scientific field and area of research across the nation. The humanities are feeling the impact in particular, as taking a stance is often unavoidable. Many critics have been fired.
Those whose teaching or writing is seen as insufficiently patriotic risk losing their jobs and even their liberty. Care is required, as listing the wrong books or works or even areas of focus in an index can lead to trouble under the law on the "prohibition of propaganda of non-traditional values". Affected areas include LGBT issues and gender studies.
While other disciplines may appear to offer a chance to take an apolitical stance, here too, there is danger.
More and more, the natural sciences are being called upon to serve the military. The government is increasingly awarding scholarships for research projects related to weapons.
At a reception in the Kremlin in early February, for example, President Vladimir Putin awarded the staff of a military research institute for "testing technologies of complicated technical devices that ensure the country's defence capability".
There is also a widespread fear of being suspected of espionage. Scholars are also known to being vulnerable to such charges. The state opened three trials against scientists for allegedly betraying secrets in 2022.
Well-known physicist Dmitri Kolker was arrested in his bedroom by secret agents. He was alleged to have betrayed state secrets during lectures he gave in China, although his presentations had been checked and approved by security forces beforehand. Kolker died only days after being arrested.
Censorship and a growing atmosphere of fear are now obstacles to scientific knowledge, with the current circumstances only allowing those who conform or lobby for the government to progress in their career.
That is partly why a new president of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAdW) was appointed in 2022, with Gennady Krasnikov, close to the Kremlin, replacing the incumbent Alexander Sergeyev.
Sergeyev's citation index reached 70, while Krasnikov's is only seven.
"For the RAdW president, such a value does not look solid," says physicist Andrei Rostovtsev.But just like during the Soviet period, loyalty to the government counts for more than scientific prowess. The consequences are evident and shocking, as shown by comments of the director of RAdW genetics institute director Alexander Kudryavtsev.
During a lecture at a "scientific-theological conference", he explained that before the Flood, people lived to be an average of 900 years old.
But after the fall of man, genetic disease spread, reducing people's average lifespan to its current level, claimed Kudryavtsev. His remarks sparked horror nationwide, beyond the higher education community. – dpa
