Posted on 07/04/2002 4:36:50 AM PDT by Prodigal Son
Two Russian scientists went on trial in Russia's Pacific port of Vladivostok on Wednesday on charges of attempting to pass technology to China that could be used for military purposes.
Vladimir Shchurov, one of the defendants, dismissed the charges against him and his colleague Yuri Khvorostov, saying they stem from a research project that had the approval of Russia's main security agency, the Federal Security Service.
The project was a joint effort between the Pacific Oceanological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, where Shchurov is a laboratory chief, and China's Harbin Engineering University, he said.
The team studied ocean noises and signals using acoustic gauges developed by Shchurov. The Federal Security Service claims the equipment could be used for military purposes such as detecting submarines, but Shchurov has insisted that his research had no military applications.
"I'm not an expert in the creation of hydro-acoustic weapons," Shchurov said.
He said that given miserly state funding, Russian scientists often have to look for foreign research institutions willing to help fund their work. The deal he had with China's Harbin was worth $80,000, a substantial sum considering his monthly salary of 800 rubles ($29).
Shchurov said that his project had approval from the security services, but he accused them of failing to shed the Soviet-era mentality of its predecessor, the KGB. The agency, he said, is too quick to chase down researchers if it suspects their work could be harmful to Russia.
"The FSB acts as a parasite on the scientific corps," Shchurov said.
Scientists "are a very easy prey to show off its work," he added.
Shchurov said his problems began in 1999 when customs agents seized two acoustic gauges that he had sent to China to continue the joint research.The security service charged him with trading in dual-purpose technology, attempting to smuggle the gauges, and divulging state secrets contained in the results of the joint research.
Khvorostov faces the same charges except for divulging state secrets.
If found guilty, the scientists face up to 15 years in jail.
Human rights groups have accused Russian authorities of heavy-handedness in applying laws on secrets in several high-profile cases recently, including the treason conviction of military journalist Grigory Pasko and the trial of Valentin Danilov, a scientist charged with spying for China.
Russia's scientists demand a living
Hundreds of Russian scientists protested in Moscow recently against chronic underfunding for their sector.
About 800 protesters on June 27 rallied outside government buildings, many of them coming from a 100-km (62-mile) protest march in support of a living wage.
The academics and research workers, not normally known for their militancy, say chronic underfunding bodes ill for Russia's economic development.
There are also real fears that impoverished Russian scientists may be wooed abroad by rogue nations seeking to develop weapons of mass destruction.
Viktor Kalinushkin, chairman of the Russian Academy of Sciences' trade unions, says that between 500,000 and 800,000 Russian scientists made long-term missions abroad in the past 10 years.
"Hardly any of them have come back," he told a news conference.
Talented young physicists, biologists, chemists and computer programmers are seeking more lucrative placements in Western states.
"When they work abroad they can get more than 100,000 dollars a year," said Fedor Brovko, trade union leader at the Pushchino Biochemistry Institute.
"The difference is just too great. Young people are studying with us purely so that they can go and work abroad."
Pittance for science Many of the demonstrators had marched from the scientific research town of Pushchino outside Moscow.
Postgraduate researchers and students at the rally said their paltry student grants did not even cover their accommodation costs.
"I want to work in the science sector," said 21-year-old Pavel Medvedev.
"But to do so I either have to take some sort of work on the side or sponge off my parents, and I don't want to do that."
President Vladimir Putin has acknowledged the sector's funding crisis.
In March, he said that support for science was "downright inefficient" and called for a "new economic foundation" for the sector.
He accused science of being "poorly adapted for the market economy".
The BBC's correspondent notes that scientists have had particular cause to rue the passing of the USSR.
Once holding prestigious jobs, with salaries, accommodation and perks to match, many senior research scientists now have to survive on less than $50 a month.
Whilst many of the scientists do go to the USA and other Western states, the worry is that others are ending up in countries such as Iran and Iraq.
Again, bold areas mine.
Don't know about anybody else, but I find this disturbing- just another one of those things I'd have been happier not knowing.
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