Doing Business in Russia. Котова К.П - 11 стр.

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has his or her papers published in foreign periodicals more or less regularly.
More than half the publications appear in scientific periodicals in the USA and
advanced European countries. But only 4 percent have received royalties in
hard currency. More than a third of the potential emigrants (36 percent) believe
that the conditions for self-fulfillment are either insufficient or totally lacking in
this country.
      All respondents contemplating emigration know foreign languages: more
than a half have fluent command of one. Interestingly, those knowing three lan-
guages are ready to depart “in a body” right away.
      Among the factors pushing them out of the country, scientists point up
falling living standards (77.7 percent), economic instability (59.9 percent), an
abiding sense of insecurity (54.4 percent), political instability (50.5 percent),
inadequate material, technical and information backup capabilities for science
(4.9 percent). Significantly, having expresses their discontent with the state of
affairs in the country, many respondents nevertheless regard with approval of
the government’s policy. Half the contingent are convinced that the way of eco-
nomic and political transformations mapped out by the government is the right
one, noting at the same time that things in the country today are deteriorating
(40–50 percent think so) rather than improving (35–40 percent).
      This assessment is quite justified considering the desperate financial
plight of many scientists. The average remuneration of a researcher or research
associate at the Russian Academy of Sciences is 10 to 30 times less than the av-
erage international standards of compensation. Our research has shown, how-
ever, that the gap is in order of magnitude greater, almost one hundredfold.
      But 6 percent of all respondents said their compensation was “odd”.
Many have to do moonlighting. And half the potential emigrants do odd jobs
unrelated to science. A significant proportion of young scientists don’t see any
opportunities for resolving their financial problems here. Physicists are almost