ANDREY FURSENKO: THE PHYSICIST TURNED MINISTER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MOSCOW 003775

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR INR/B AND EUR/RUS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/06/2017
TAGS: KIRF KPAO PGOV PINR RS SCUL SOCI TSPL
SUBJECT: ANDREY FURSENKO: THE PHYSICIST TURNED MINISTER

REF: A. MOSCOW 551

B. MOSCOW 1974

Classified By: Charge d'Affairs Dan Russell. Reasons: 1.4 (b,d)


1. (C) SUMMARY. As Minister of Science and Education since
2004, Andrey Fursenko has evoked a storm of controversy with
his efforts to reform Russia's tradition-bound science and
education establishments. Fursenko is passionate about
modernizing Russian science to make it more competitive and
market oriented. He has pushed hard for Russian investment
in nanotechnology, and he is in an ongoing battle for reform
in the Academy of Sciences. Despite periodic rumors of his
imminent resignation, Fursenko appears likely to remain in
firm control of his ministry for as long as Putin remains
president. With a long career as a research physicist in the
Soviet period, Fursenko became an entrepreneur in the 1990s,
founding companies that specialized in developing commercial
applications for science. Fursenko entered government
service to push reforms. He will likely return to the
private sector when his tenure ends. END SUMMARY

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Early Life -- a Soviet Physicist
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2. (U) Andrey Fursenko was born in 1949 into one of
Leningrad's elite academic families. His father is Aleksandr
Fursenko, a historian of American history and a full member
of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). Fursenko's early
interests were in the hard sciences. In 1990, he received
the highest degree offered by the Soviet academic system: a
Doctor of Sciences in physics and mathematics. From 1971
through 1991, he worked at the Ioffe Physical Technical
Institute, one of the leading RAS institutions for
fundamental research in physics. Politically, as a student,
Fursenko was an active member of the Komsomol, the Communist
youth organization. Fursenko eventually became a
full-fledged member of the Communist Party, which he left
only after it was banned in August 1991.

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Fursenko's Rise
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3. (U) In 1990-1991, Fursenko along with his Ioffe colleagues
Yuriy Kovalchuk and Vladimir Yakunin founded several
companies specializing in the development of applied uses for
fundamental scientific discoveries. To support these new
companies, they even created their own bank. (Yakunin today
is at the helm of Russian Railroads.) Fursenko's rise was in
part the result of his personal relationship with Vladimir
Putin, which began in St. Petersburg in 1993. In 1995
Fursenko joined the "Our Home is Russia" party, when Putin
was chair of the St. Petersburg branch. In 1996, together
with Yuriy Kovalchuk and six others, Putin and Fursenko
formed Ozero ("The Lake"),a dacha cooperative society that
allowed rising members of the new elite to work and relax
together as well.

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Minister of Education and Science
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4. (U) Fursenko entered government service in 2001, when he
was named a Deputy Minister of Industry, Science, and
Technology. When Fradkov replaced Kasyanov as Prime Minister
in March 2004, President Putin appointed Fursenko to be
Minister in the newly established Ministry of Education and
Science. Fursenko later told the press that his appointment
had come as a surprise, adding that "I am much closer to
matters of industry than to questions of education."
Fursenko quickly set about an extensive program of reforms
that continue to shake the Russian education and scientific
establishments. "You have been placed here to destroy all
that has not been destroyed already," complained one caller
in a passionate comment to Ekho Moskvy radio where Fursenko
was giving an interview in 2004.

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The Minister and His Initiatives: Science
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5. (U) Fursenko has sought to increase competitiveness in
science by closing unproductive research institutes. Early
this year, he stressed that "only 50 scientific research
institutes are engaged in active scientific activity" while
"in another 50, we can find some active working groups.
However, there are 450 institutes in the Russian Federation."
Fursenko noted that the RAS opened 30 new institutes in the
1990s but that this only increased the administrative

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apparatus and service personnel, not the number of
discoveries. He complains that the RAS has wasted funds, and
some institutes must close. To increase competitiveness,
Fursenko has encouraged more applied science. He also aims
to change the way science is funded. According to Fursenko,
over 70 percent of the funds for science come from the
private sector in Japan and in the USA. The Russian private
sector today only provides 40 percent of science funding.

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The Minister and the Academy
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6. (U) Perhaps the greatest controversy surrounding Fursenko
has been his conflict with the RAS (REF A). Reform of the
RAS gets much attention because it is the main recipient of
state funds for research, receiving a third of all scientific
expenditures of the federal treasury. Fursenko believes, the
government must be in charge of which projects receive
funding and must have direct control. For the RAS, this
means a cut in funding and loss of budgetary power as well as
control over property and other assets. Fursenko's reforms
also would lead to a much greater percentage of research
conducted in universities outside the RAS system, a move that
also mirrors U.S. and European practice.

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The Minister and Nanotechnology
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7. (U) Fursenko is closely identified with Russia's declared
intent to invest heavily in the development of
nanotechnology. President Putin put a spotlight on
nanotechnology in his 2007 state of the nation address (ref
B),and Russia has committed to invest billions of dollars in
research and development. Nanotechnology, with its many
potential commercial and military applications, is a prime
example of what Fursenko has been pushing for since he left
the Ioffe Institute in 1991: science with applications to
the needs of commerce and the national economy.

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The Minister and His Initiatives: Education
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8. (SBU) Fursenko was the major Russian proponent of the May
2006 bilateral Memorandum of Understanding, which calls for
greater U.S.-Russia education cooperation and exchange. As a
result, the U.S. and Russia Ministry are jointly funding a
first-ever university partnership program in the Fall 2007.


9. (U) Upon arriving in office, Fursenko inherited the
process of transitioning Russian higher education from the
current diplom-kandidat track to a Western style
Bachelors-Masters-Ph.D system. This is part of the Bologna
Process, which seeks to standardize European university
standards through a "European higher education zone." Russia
joined the Bologna Declaration in 2003.


10. (SBU) Fursenko also inherited the Unified State Exam
(Yedinyi gosudarstvennyi ekhzamen or YeGE),a series of exams
designed to serve as the primary criterion for entrance into
higher education institutions. Subject-based, the YeGE exams
are similar to Advanced Placement (AP) or SAT-II exams in the
United States. First given on a trial basis in 2001, in 2006
the YeGE was given to more than 1 million high school
students. Opponents such as Moscow State University rector
Viktor Sadovinch argue that the YeGE should be only one
element of admission. Fursenko was critical of the YeGE in
the beginning, but he has become more pro-YeGE with time.
Putin has signed legislation stating that the YeGE would be
given throughout the RF starting in 2009, but the law also
allows for exceptions whereby universities can admit students
via other mechanisms.


11. (U) Teaching religion in schools is a controversial
subject in Russia. Fursenko has said that he intended to
introduce the study of religion into schools, but this was
misinterpreted to mean that Fursenko wanted to bring Orthodox
Christianity into the classroom. Fursenko has since
clarified several times that he supports the teaching of the
history and culture of world religions, not Orthodox
Christian instruction. In fact, Fursenko has been critical
of the unilateral decision by a number of regions to
compulsorily teach the fundamentals of Orthodox Christianity.


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Fursenko, the Man: His Style, and His Politics
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12. (SBU) Fursenko is friendly, polite, and urbane. One
Russian observer described him as "a real European minister."
He projects well on television and generally seeks to
operate by consensus. It is said he has a harder side to his
personality that he only exhibits behind the scenes; he is
intensely loyal to trusted colleagues such as his deputy
Dmitriy Livanov, who under a hail of criticism was forced to
leave his position earlier this year. Fursenko is fluent in
English and frequently conducts meetings in English.
Fursenko's management style is to delegate and share
responsibility.


13. (SBU) Fursenko has often clashed with the Minister of
Economic Development and Trade, German Gref. Also, many from
scientific backgrounds do not respect his scientific
credentials. Zhores Alferov, director of the Ioffe Institute
where Fursenko worked for many years, has been vociferous in
his criticism of Fursenko. Other scientists suggest,
however, that Alferov's criticism is motivated mainly by sour
grapes.


14. (C) Politically, Fursenko is moderate and pragmatic.
Like many Russians, he supports the idea of a powerful
president and believes that Russia needs more centralized
control.


15. (C) At his core, Fursenko is passionate about modernizing
Russian science to make it more competitive and market
oriented. Many in the traditional scientific establishment
oppose these reforms, but with continued Russian Government
support, the reforms are likely to gain traction and become
permanent. It is less clear where Fursenko's education
reforms will lead.


16. (C) There have been periodic rumors that Fursenko intends
to resign as Minister of Education and Science. Some of
these rumors have even named specific dates, but so far none
of these predictions have been borne out. For the time being
Fursenko is firmly in control. When his tenure as minister
ends, he is likely to return to the private sector that he
left in 2001.
RUSSELL