Russia Is Running Out of Scientists, Top Putin Ally Admits

The number of scientists in Russia has decreased by around 25 percent over the past two decades, and this is hindering the country's ability to achieve "technological independence," a top Russian security official, Nikolai Patrushev, said this week.

"A serious obstacle to achieving technological independence is the shortage of qualified scientific, engineering and labor personnel. The total number of personnel engaged in research and development in Russia has decreased by a quarter over the past 20 years," Patrushev said at a retreat in the city of Tomsk, in Siberia, Russia.

A large number of scientists and academic staff are believed to have fled the country after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and again after he announced a partial mobilization of the population last fall.

Hundreds of thousands of Russians fled across the border to neighboring countries, including Georgia, Finland, Kazakhstan and Mongolia to avoid being conscripted.

In May, the vice president of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Valentin Parmon, was cited by state news agency Interfax as saying that Russia has lost around 50,000 scientists over the past five years, and that no other country has seen such a fall in the number of workers in the scientific field in that timeframe.

Novaya Gazeta, an independent Russian newspaper, identified in August at least 270 academic staff members of Moscow and St. Petersburg's high-ranking universities who had left the country since the Ukraine war began. This figure includes 195 Russian scientists, while the rest are of other nationalities.

The newspaper reported that half of the Russian scientists who left the country publicly opposed Putin's invasion of Ukraine, signing an open letter against the war.

Novaya Gazeta added that its estimate is very conservative, and that it only included the cases that could be verified via public sources.

The British Defense Ministry said in September 2022, days after Putin's partial mobilization decree, that Russia is likely facing a "brain drain" and a labor shortage amid a mass exodus of people.

"When combined with those reservists who are being mobilized, the domestic economic impact of reduced availability of labor, and the acceleration of 'brain drain' is likely to become increasingly significant," it said in an intelligence report.

The issue of top scientists leaving the country has been a problem for Russia for years, so much so that former president Dmitry Medvedev said in 2010 that action must be taken to prevent them from seeking employment elsewhere.

"There is only one way to combat this—by creating normal conditions for work and development," Medvedev said at the time. "We need to take it seriously, but we should not fear it and say that everyone has left and that's it."

To encourage the country's brightest scientists to remain in Russia, Medvedev said, "We need to undertake serious efforts, but there are no other options. We can't lower an iron curtain to prevent a brain drain."

Parmon's comments on the issue this year echoed Medvedev's. He said funding needs to be injected into the industry and salaries need to be raised.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's Foreign Ministry via email for comment.

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