A garage full of premium foreign cars, millions in accounts, offshore accounts registered with relatives – Krasnikov looks like a real oligarch. And he behaves accordingly: at recent meetings with academicians, he behaved like the already elected and approved head of the RAS. Krasnikov did not wait for the vote to comply with formalities, obviously being completely confident in his victory.
There really are reasons to be confident. Firstly, the implicit but clearly visible support of the founder of AFK Sistema, Vladimir Yevtushenkov. They say that he is promoting Krasnikov to the head of the Russian Academy of Sciences in order to gain full access to government funding aimed at the development of microelectronics. This topic in Russian science is supervised by Krasnikov.
Secondly, the academician has considerable assets of his own. Investigation of one of the TV channels Krasnikov was found to have two expensive Mercedes-Benzes plus a high-status Bentley Bentayga car. Country houses on Rublyovka and several offshore companies are registered in the name of the wife. Krasnikov is also doing great with money – in just one year he officially earned more than 80 million rubles. And this is not counting the various “family” companies.
Evil tongues call Krasnikov not so much a scientist as a supply manager. Judging by his wealth, everything is so. But does the state need a supply manager as head of the Russian Academy of Sciences? Especially now, when the development of science and knowledge-intensive industries is recognized as a strategic goal and unprecedented financial flows are directed to high-tech industries.
Against the backdrop of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine, our defense complex may be left without processors, and the capacity for the production of banking microchips is potentially only sufficient for 5–10% of those interested. But the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAN), which oversees scientific developments…
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