MOSCOW, December 24. /TASS/. Domestic scientists can present many new ideas to boost Russia’s technological development in the area of nuclear energy to get ahead of competitors, Kurchatov Institute Research Center President Mikhail Kovalchuk said.

"We cannot chase after anyone, we can only get ahead, so new ideas are needed and we have plenty of them. And now we have a new foundation as well. That’s all we need. Then we’ll become interesting to our competitors," he said in a commentary for Ren TV.

Kovalchuk also reiterated that for a long time, Russia has been and remains a guide for other countries in the sphere of developing technologies, including space. "It is for a reason that the Chinese first took American stations, then ours. They have already learned everything. We can see this when it comes to space. [China] understands that in this sense, we were teaching, giving a lot to them. <...> Twenty years ago China did not have thermonuclear fusion at all, while today they are at a high level," the scientist explained.