Russian Academy of Sciences Rejects Demand to Give Up Autonomy

MOSCOW, March 28 -- The Russian Academy of Sciences, the historic home of Russia's brightest scientific minds, on Wednesday rejected a government demand that it cede more control to the state, and instead adopted a charter that preserves its centuries-old autonomy.

The almost unanimous decision by the academy's general assembly sets up a potential clash with the government, which had told the academy to adopt a charter written by officials in the Education and Science Ministry.

The government wants to place the academy, which was founded by Peter the Great in 1724, under the management of a supervisory board on which a majority of members would be appointed by parliament and the presidential administration.

To be valid, the new charter must be approved by the government. There was no immediate word on how it planned to respond.

Academy members rejected the government's plan as a threat to independent scientific research and called it part of a broader trend of increasing official control over critical parts of Russian society. Some academy members have suggested that the government's plan may be driven by the desire of some bureaucrats to gain control of the academy's rich property portfolio.

"We will not agree to the supervisory council on any conditions," the academy's president, Yuri Osipov, told journalists after Wednesday's vote. "This goes against the spirit of science and traditions of science, and not only Russian science."

The academy has about 1,000 senior members. Wednesday's vote in Moscow was unanimous but for one abstention, members said after the meeting.

The academy did agree that in the future the president of the body, who is elected by its senior members, will be ratified by the president of Russia. Senior officials at the academy said Kremlin officials had assured them that their choice, made by secret ballot, would not be rejected.

The self-governing institution's senior members oversee a $1.2 billion budget, 400 research institutes and 200,000 researchers and other staff members across Russia.

Government officials said the academy needs new management to better integrate it into the modern economy, and they have said the academy could extract more revenue from its property.