The Sakharov Science Foundation declares independence, recognized as exceptional in Russia
The Andrey Sakharov Science Foundation and the Andrey Sakharov Foundation, whose activities the Prosecutor General’s Office on the eve recognized as an exceptional, absolutely unrelated organization and has nothing to do with other relations, Alexei Khokhlov, a member of the Science Foundation Board of Trustees, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), told Vedomosti .
Sakharov’s granddaughter Marina Sakharov-Lieberman, who was vice-president of the Andrei Sakharov Foundation, resigned yesterday because Russian citizens did not take part in the work of special organizations, she told Vedomosti. But she “doesn’t agree” with the identification of a special danger fund, because “it prematurely allows the preservation of the intellectual and scientific heritage, it precedes archival work by 30 years.” “But scientific activity is important to me, and I established the implementation of the legislation,” said Sakharova-Lieberman. She concluded that the fund had no external activities in the region.
According to her, in 2021 she will participate in the work of the organizing committee for the celebration of Sakharov, which was created by order of President Vladimir Putin. “One of the proven sources of data collection is a scholarship, because students are always interested in learning about the history of a scientist, due to the fact that a scholarship is named. “I need the expected expectation in the future faculty of Moscow State University, because Andrey Dmitrievich and I graduated from it, but then we expanded the program at MIPT,” she explained about the science fund. Sakharova-Lieberman also stated that neither the founder nor the funding of the scientific foundation is covered by raising funds. “This is an endowment, a “purse” where money is received and spent in accordance with the target achievements,” she said. The interest of the Prosecutor General’s Office in the science fund would be “complete nonsense,” Sakharova-Lieberman added.
What is the Andrey Sakharov Science Foundation
According to an extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities published by the Foundation itself, the A.D. P. N. Lebedeva Stanislav Bezhanov. The Board of Trustees includes two Nobel Prize winners in physics Andrey Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, a member of the Board of Directors of PJSC “NLMK» Thomas Verasto, granddaughter of academician Sakharov-Lieberman and other experts and academicians of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Alexander Sergeev heads the board of trustees of the former academy.
The fund was established as part of the celebration of the centenary of the physicist and Nobel laureate Andrei Sakharov in 2021, the capital of the fund consists of donations from large Russian companies, such as Sberbank“Norilsk Nickel“, NLMK, Rosenergoatom. These funds are used to pay the winners of the Sakharov competition, in which students and postgraduates of the Faculty of Physics of Moscow State University named after M.V. M. V. Lomonosov and Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, on the website of the Science Foundation.
The Sakharov Science Foundation was created as part of the work of the organizing committee for the centennial anniversary of the scientist, this was agreed with the presidential administration, so there are no fears about its further work, its chairman Sergeev told Vedomosti. “The idea of the endowment is that young graduate students stay in science because they often live on a graduate student scholarship. I see no reason why the work of the scientific fund should be subject to revision or that events related to the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Andrei Sakharov were erroneously held in the country, monuments to Sakharov were erected incorrectly, or that this became undesirable for the state considers, ”Sergeev.
“This academic year, the number of scholarship holders of the A. D. Sakharov Science Foundation Prize has been increased, and now in the amount of 25,000 rubles. 10 students and graduate students of the Physicotechnical Institute receive monthly. Of course, such pension programs, in addition to financial support, encourage students to publish activity and plan scientific work, ”the MIPT press service said in response to a request from Vedomosti. Moscow State University did not respond to Vedomosti at the time of publication of the material. Vedomosti refers to inquiries to other donor companies of the A. D. Sakharov Science Foundation.
Kholov explains that the foundation is engaged in activities only in the field of physical and mathematical sciences and is not engaged in other activities. “The only thing the two assets have in common is that they appear in the name of Andrei Sakharov. I think that qualified people work in the Prosecutor General’s Office and the proportions in the work of assets,” Alexei Khokhlov replied to Vedomosti, commenting on the hypothetical interest of the department in the scientific fund.
Lawyer Anastasia Burakova says that in practice it is impossible for the Prosecutor General’s Office to be interested in the scientific fund of A.D. Sakharov, since there is something similar in the name of the Russian and American fund, previously recognized as unusual, despite the fact that they are not legally covered.
What funds Sakharov poisoning?
The Prosecutor General’s Office recognized the exceptional activity in Russia of the Andrei Sakharov Foundation on 23 January. “According to the results of the study of the materials received on January 23, 2023. As follows from the statement, the activities of this organization “represent a crime in the constituent assembly and the security of the Russian Federation.” The Prosecutor General’s Office also considers data on organizations in the Ministry of Justice for contributions in the corresponding list.
This organization was established in the United States in 1990 simultaneously with the Public Commission to Perpetuate the Memory of Academician Sakharov – the Sakharov Foundation. Now she works in Moscow under the name “Sakharov Center” and is included in the register of NGOs-foreign agents. Both organizations were human rights activists for Elena Bonner, Sakharov’s widow. The center is engaged in cultural, public and human rights activities. The organization’s website says that the foundation collects the legacy of the Soviet physicist, one of the creators of the first Soviet hydrogen bomb, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1975 Sakharov. “Vedomosti” at the request of a representative of the fund.