MOSCOW, February 6. /TASS/. The Russian Academy of Sciences, despite unprecdented Western sanctions against Russia, is not subject to international isolation, RAS President Gennady Krasnikov told TASS in an interview timed to mark the scholarly institution’s 300th anniversary.

"We are members of 42 international scientific unions. We maintain relations with several dozen academies in different countries, and not only the CIS member states. Therefore, it is wrong to say that there is a boycott. I would not exaggerate the scale of the problem," Krasnikov said.

The RAS has quit only two or three international scientific organizations.

"As for the rest, we’ve paid membership dues and retained our membership. I have my own experience in this respect. I am a member of the GSA (Global Semiconductor Alliance - TASS). This organization unites developers and manufacturers in the field of electronics and the semiconductor industry from all over the world. I am on the European Board of Directors. Despite the fact that the NIIME, the molecular electronics research institute where I work, has been under sanctions since 2016 and was one of the first to be blacklisted, this does not interfere in any way with my communication with colleagues," Krasnikov said.

Last December, as the head of the Russian Academy of Sciences recalled, the general meeting of the RAS honored the winners of the UNESCO-Russia Mendeleev International Prize in the Basic Sciences. Our compatriot from Moscow State University, Irina Beletskaya, and Professor Klaus Alexander Mullen of Germany’s Max Planck Institute received the award. UNESCO Assistant Director General Lydia Brito attended the awards ceremony and a large foreign delegation was in attendance.

RAS and its president

The Russian Academy of Sciences was founded on January 28 (February 8, New Style), 1724 by decree of Emperor Peter I (Peter the Great). In 2024, on this day, it will turn 300 years old. Every year, since 2000, February 8 has been celebrated as the Day of Russian Science, which was established in 1999.

Gennady Krasnikov was born in Tambov on April 30, 1958. On September 20, 2022, he was elected president of the Russian Academy of Sciences, winning 871 votes with more than 50% of the RAS voting members supporting him. On September 26 he was confirmed in office by presidential decree.