Meeting of the Council for Science and Education

The Siberian Circular Photon Source - the world's finest source of such radiation in the mid-energy range - will facilitate scientific research using synchrotron radiation beams and provide ultra-precise data on the structure of matter and atomic-level processes, including ultra-fast phenomena. Users of the SKIF facility will enjoy access to all requisite infrastructure, with research conducted around the clock. The centre's capabilities will support not only theoretical investigations but also practical applications, including the development of advanced pharmaceuticals, as well as the examination of ancient artefacts without jeopardising their structural integrity.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues.

Today, we are holding another meeting of the Council for Science and Education. The issues on our agenda are systemic and fundamental. We will discuss concrete decisions and mechanisms that will enable us to significantly accelerate and drive forward the development of future technologies.

To this end, it is imperative, first and foremost, that we address our priority objectives and effectively integrate Russia's strategic scientific assets, in particular, our research schools and advanced digital computing resources, alongside the unique bioresource collections established by Nikolai Vavilov and other eminent Russian scientists - collections which, if memory serves, Peter the Great began assembling in 1714, I believe, in St Petersburg, at the Kunstkamera.

Remark: The Apothecary Garden.

Vladimir Putin: Quite right, the Apothecary Garden. Later, Nikolai Vavilov made an outstanding and truly world-class contribution. This endeavour continued to advance during the Soviet period. It is worth recalling the era of the Great Patriotic War, when scientists in Leningrad starved to death, yet did not consume a single grain, not a single potato tuber from these collections. All of this was amassed over centuries and decades, and handed down from generation to generation.

To be continued.