INTELLECTUALS LEAVING RUSSIA

Russia's State Statistics Committee has made public a staggering report: 250,000 specialists leave Russia every year. On the other hand, do they have any choice if no one in their home land needs them? Over the last few years, the significance and authority of intellectuals in society have sharply decreased.

According to Deputy Education Minister B. Vinogradov, who quoted results of public opinion polls, scientists now rank the last in the list of prestigious professions. Fifty-three percent of Russians polled by the Public Opinion Fund the other day agreed with this ranking.

Russia's best brains leave for other countries, yet a majority of their compatriots do not censure them but display understanding and sympathy for them.

The motives of the brain drain are understandable. Sixty-three percent of those polled cited financial difficulties.

It is an open secret that the salary of a world-renowned scientist in Russia now makes 50 percent of that of a Moscow roadsweeper. Yet, money is not the only reason. Thirty-six percent of those polled explained the brain drain by low demand for scientists in their home country and by a lack of adequate conditions for their work. Over the last decade, state allocations for research and development have decreased 80 percent. Now budget allocations for science stand at 1.5 percent, ten times less than defence spending.

Ten percent of those polled said that scientists simply go to countries where their knowledge and skills will be appreciated at their true value, where life is more stable and safer. As a Russian saying goes, "Fish looks for deeper water, and man for better places to live." Can man be censured for that?