BRICS+ Sherpa Report & Discussion of Russian Academy of Sciences 300th Anniversary

President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Gennady Krasnikov.

The first meeting of the expanded BRICS Sherpa’s and their assistants has concluded with the teams returning to deal with their priority tasks. Yes, BRICS+ and all the other orgs like EAEU and SCO conduct work all the time much like any other governing body. Russia’s #1 Sherpa Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov provided the following report to the press at the conclusion of the three days of meetings:

The first meeting of the BRICS Sherpas/Sous-Sherpas of Russia's chairmanship in 2024 with the participation of representatives of the countries that became full-fledged BRICS members on January 1 – Egypt, Iran, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia – ended today.

We are glad to welcome the new members of the BRICS family and are ready to start substantive, result-oriented work with them. We hope that our cooperation will bring practical benefits to all parties.

Over these three days, we held ten working sessions, during which representatives of Russian ministries and departments, business and academia presented detailed briefings on key areas of cooperation in BRICS and the initiatives of Russia's chairmanship in the association. We appreciate that our BRICS partners have assured us of their support for the chairmanship's plans and their readiness to work together vigorously this year.

Fruitful and constructive discussions took place on a number of topics within the framework of the three "baskets" of cooperation in BRICS: politics and security, economy and finance, and humanitarian contacts. We discussed pressing issues in the field of trade and investment, transport and energy, technology and innovation, and sustainable development. We exchanged views on strengthening cooperation in the field of education, healthcare and sports, and reaffirmed our focus on maintaining and deepening ties between business and experts.

This year, we will work on the implementation of the BRICS Economic Partnership Strategy until 2025, including by strengthening supply chains, developing the digital economy, supporting small and medium-sized businesses, stimulating tourist flows, as well as cooperation in the field of transport. We aim to launch the BRICS Contact Group on Climate and Sustainable Development, initiated by Russia.

We note the great potential for cooperation between the BRICS countries in the healthcare sector. We hope that this year we will launch the practical work of the Integrated System for Early Warning of the Risks of Mass Infectious Diseases. We will facilitate the connection of new countries to the BRICS Vaccine Research Centre. We expect a positive response from our partners to our proposals to create a BRICS Medical Association and a specialized journal. We welcome the launch of the Working Group on Nuclear Medicine.

Of course, we will focus on further strengthening cooperation in the areas of anti-terrorism, anti-corruption and anti-drugs, as well as in the field of international information security.

We will continue to coordinate the BRICS countries' approaches to resolving key foreign policy issues, including at international venues such as the UN, the G20 and the WTO.

We also consider it important to build up humanitarian ties between our peoples, contacts between ordinary people, and expand opportunities for mutual enrichment of the member countries.

We see the growing interest of friendly like-minded states around the world in developing cooperation with BRICS. They are impressed by the basic principles on which our interaction is based: respect for international law, respect for each other's interests and the right of each state to choose a sovereign path of development. In response to the desire of a wide range of countries to strengthen ties with BRICS, we have begun to work out the modalities of the category of partner states of the association. We will also make active use of the outreach/BRICS Plus dialogue mechanisms for interaction with third countries.

We have a busy year ahead of us. The first meeting of Sherpas/sous-Sherpas in the "ten" format set a good pace for our cooperation. I am confident that our BRICS friends, including representatives of relevant ministries and departments, business and academia, will take an active part in all events of the official calendar for 2024 and will make a significant contribution to achieving practical results in all areas of our strategic partnership.

IMO, it’s quite clear BRICS+ is organizing a replacement for the WHO which has undergone “privatization” by Western UN members and is no longer an independent, objective organization. This is also being done in coordination with the development of a BRICS+ biological security unit that will operate within the new BRICS Medical Association. It will be interesting to see how efficient the larger BRICS format will be particularly in the field of trade settlement using national currencies and central bank adoption of digital currencies to facilitate trade as the new system continues to be constructed. Combining sustainable development with climate change is also very sensible as it will help combat Western lies about the incompatibility of the two. BRICS is growing internally while also adding new members for external growth. Since Russia’s this year’s president, we should be well informed of its progress.

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In his meeting with President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Gennady Krasnikov, Putin was informed about the priority tasks of the Academy and anticipation for the celebration of its 300th anniversary. The deeper meeting level we don’t get to read, but we are at least informed of what those discussions were about. However, the social-business part that follows does provide some important information. And the fact that Russia has such a venerable Academy that’s accomplished so much is something many readers will learn for the first time:

G. Krasnikov: Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,

Thank you so much for taking the time to meet.

Vladimir Putin: I'm glad to see you.

Gennady Krasnikov: First of all, I would like to say that we are very pleased with your decision to run for President.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much.

G. Krasnikov: We have been expecting this for a long time.

I would like to note that the Russian Academy of Sciences supports this and asks you to consider that we are also in the ranks of your team.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much.

How are you?

Mr. Krasnikov: Mr President, first of all, I have prepared a presentation here. One that was a year ago, I took it specially, and the second [presentation] I prepared to talk about the work done during the year. Above each page there is a slide from the presentation that was a year ago.

The first tasks that we set were to integrate into the state decision-making systems as quickly as possible, to establish relations with all branches of government, and to make sure that the Academy of Sciences was reputable in our country…

Vladimir Putin: I want it to be a pillar of support.

G. Krasnikov: Yes, it is the mainstay and hope of the state, and most importantly – including through highly professional objective expertise.

What has been done? First, we have established working relations with all branches of government and, of course, with the Government, with the Prime Minister.

I would like to say that now we are actually doing one and a half times more examinations, and we have three times more negative conclusions. This is due to the fact that our experts have taken a more responsible approach to the examination, so that it is truly objective.

Second, I would like to point out that it is also very important that we have become experts not only on state science tasks, but also on high-tech projects, including ten roadmaps on quantum technologies, artificial intelligence, new materials, and new mobile communication systems.

What other results have we seen in this area? We conducted surveys, and our confidence in the Academy of Sciences as an institution grew by four percent. The most important thing is that already 65 percent of parents want their children to…

Vladimir Putin: Be working in the field of science.

G. Krasnikov: In the field of science, yes. Scientific and methodological guide. I also raised this issue last time. First, we have started to form a single scientific space. It is very important that there was a Government decree and the Kurchatov Institute came under our scientific and methodological guidance. I think this is very important.

Secondly, we have started to conduct joint operational checks between the leadership of the Ministry of Education and Science and the Russian Academy of Sciences. In order to synchronize many things, we have agreed with them. I raised the issue of abolishing categorization for institutions, which was very important. We have launched many projects, including high-tech research projects, and now we have made 4.7 billion rubles a year for our research institutes [as part of a competition to finance major projects in priority areas of scientific and technological development].

But I would like to say that, in general, the issue of [scientific and methodological guidance] is central for us, and I have a separate presentation, I will say it separately, because we believe that much more needs to be done on scientific and methodological guidance for the Academy of Sciences. This is our main task today, so that there is a deeper planning of scientific research.

Vladimir Putin: This must necessarily be related to relevance.

G. Krasnikov: Absolutely. With demand. I just wanted to talk about this later, too, separately.

Second – of course, we have increased the role of scientific councils. Taking into account that our scientific councils include not only members of the Academy of Sciences, but also actually leading scientists of industry and university science, high-tech companies, scientific councils unite leading scientists in this industry, virtually all of whom we have in the state.

We conducted an audit. It says here that we have 45 [soviets] attached to the presidium. We treat them more meaningfully. They determine their own areas of fundamental and exploratory research, including tracking roadmaps.

We have also started to initiate large-scale government projects in microelectronics. I would also like to tell you more separately if I have time. Of course, new technologies, especially for the aviation industry. These include composite materials, aerodynamics, and new genetic technologies.

Vladimir Putin: Rosneft, as its head Igor Sechin reported, is also investing in this research.

G. Krasnikov: When we hold scientific councils or the presidium, we invite everyone, including those who attend the presidium, and we consolidate them here.

Of course, what you are talking about, and the main task that we are building is the demand for scientific results, so that we can have a chain from fundamental and exploratory research to R & D projects and their implementation.

We are currently working with the ministries and departments on this issue. I can tell you a lot of examples here.

Vladimir Putin: Good. After all, the fundamental is the fundamental.

G. Krasnikov: Absolutely.

Vladimir Putin: The horizon may not be visible, but we still need to work.

G. Krasnikov: Absolutely. And we are talking about what is very difficult: sometimes fundamental research is immediately implemented, and sometimes 50 years pass.

International activities: We have 439 foreign members from 55 countries. Today, the academic platform for international researchers has become very comfortable. We have a lot of contacts. As an example, they held a general meeting [of the Russian Academy of Sciences], awarded a large gold medal to outstanding scientists, including a Briton. He made a report at the general meeting.

The Deputy Director-General of UNESCO came to us, the International Mendeleev Prize was awarded, and Professor Klaus [Alexander Mullen] came from the Max Planck Institute. It was a big international event.

Vladimir Putin: Scientists are smart and independent people.

G. Krasnikov: Yes.

Formation of scientific personnel. I told you last time. Of course, we also pay a lot of attention to postgraduate research and the basic department. Today we went to school. We have 108 basic schools of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 32 regions, where 25 thousand children study.

I would like to note that, of course, we are concerned today about the fact that very few people have started taking the Unified State Exam in physics. This is a separate conversation, and we are trying to study this topic today.

The second point, of course, we would like to raise a question in this regard: until 2018, the Academy of Sciences conducted an expert examination of school textbooks. We believe that it is necessary to return the examination of school textbooks to us again…

Vladimir Putin: Was this removed in 2018?

G. Krasnikov: Removed, yes.

Vladimir Putin: Why not?

G. Krasnikov: I tried to study this issue.

Vladimir Putin: Should I answer it?

G. Krasnikov: Yes, the answer is why. The Academy of Sciences is the main expert community, we did it all our lives, and then…

Vladimir Putin: To be honest, I missed it, which is strange.

G. Krasnikov: Yes, I would like to raise this question now.

Vladimir Putin: Of course, we should discuss it with our colleagues.

G. Krasnikov: And for the St. Petersburg branch. I wanted to report that we had a long history: on December 20, we were handed over [the building]: Universitetskaya Embankment, building five. I know that this initiative was actually initiated by you. Further, the Government issued a resolution to amend the charter. And just in October, we held all the latest events: a new presidium was chosen, and the chairman of the St. Petersburg branch was chosen.

Vladimir Putin: A large number of scientists – 186 people.

G. Krasnikov: 186, yes.

That is why I would like to say that our St. Petersburg branch is working.

Vladimir Putin: I also worked in a neighboring institution, at the University of St. Petersburg.

G. Krasnikov: I would like to say a few words about the new territories. I once reported that Academician Gennady Grigoryevich Matishov was appointed Deputy President of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Now we have actively worked and created an association of southern regions, which includes our Crimean scientific institutions of all new regions: LPR, DPR, Kherson, Zaporozhye. And we hold regular meetings, resolve all operational issues, including using the experience of the Crimea.

A very important event is the 300th anniversary of the Russian Academy of Sciences. And I would like to point out that throughout our 300-year history, we have fully ensured continuity. As in 1724, the first 12 academicians were appointed – then we had only elections, and there was always continuity in elections. That is, the Tsarist academicians, when there was an imperial academy, chose the academicians of the Soviet government, and the academicians of the USSR chose the academicians of the new Russia. That is, this continuity did not stop.

This date is important not only for us, it is included in the UNESCO calendar, it is an international event. We have an event planned. The first was on February 8, the day when the Academy of Sciences was founded in accordance with the imperial decree.

Then we have a general meeting in May. In June, we will have a visiting session of the presidium in the building where the Academy of Sciences used to meet until 1934. She then moved here [to Moscow] in 1934.

And of course, we invite you.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much. [My Emphasis]

Very good to know there’re no Yes Men at Russia’s Academy of Sciences and objectivity is the goal resulting in honest reports. The importance of such critiques for good governance can’t be underestimated. The issue of the Physics Exam was discussed at length at a meeting last year where the problem is similar to that existing in the West—the “softer” easier academic subjects are chosen because students feel more capable of passing them. It’s not that the students lack proficiency with the subject; competition for scholarships is also one reason and higher test scores enable those to be obtained. A psychological approach to a solution was suggested to provide the best solution. However, it’s too early to judge results.

Of the topics we don’t get to read about, quantum communications is where the impact of joint work with China will soon be seen. Advances in microelectronics in combination with AI in aviation will be visible on the Ukraine battlefield, while other advances will be applied to Russia’s commercial aircraft production. Increasing the focus research resulting in viable consumer goods was made a priority last year and its implementation was confirmed. I note Russia continues to provide ample funding for its scientific research facilities while such funding continues to be cut by Western nations. That Russia’s scientific and educational foundations remained viable after the USSR’s destruction during the 1990s is one of the main reasons why Russia is as strong as it is today—the fundamental remained the fundamental.

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