Sputnik
Picture Source: NASA

When communism fell in the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union disintegrated, Russia was in a shambles. We all have heard stories about the Russian Army selling arms because they were not being paid or abandoning arms in the field while they went out and looked for food. Civil Service workers went months without a paycheck. What had happened was that the central government had failed and when the Soviet Union dissolved, it was the same as if states in this country were, all of a sudden, on their own. Much of the assets of the Soviet Union were scattered around the new countries that were created by the breakup.

Two coups were attempted. The first began on 19 August, 1990 and was led by the State Committee on the State of Emergency. It trapped Yeltsin in the parliament building. It lasted 3 days and failed. The second coup occurred in August 1991 and was began by hard line communists. This coup was designed to remove Gorbachev from office but Yeltsin was able to prevent the coup from succeeding.

One of the things that was truly failing and creating a dangerous situation, as dangerous as the nuclear weapon situation, were the Russian labs. Laboratories that had been handling dangerous materials, and sometimes deadly materials such as nerve agents and deadly chemicals, were not paying their scientists. Their equipment was decaying, further creating more dangerous situations. Scientists had families to feed, and the temptation to sell deadly agents for food money was great.

Russian scientists are among the most respected scientists in the world. Things were so bad for Russian scientists that they organized a march on Moscow on 24 June, 2002. They were complaining about the brain drain. It is said that over 500,000 scientists have left Russia for the west since the fall of communism. (see BBC news Monday 24 June 2002 article http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2062025.stm ). Government funding for fundamental research programs in Russia has plummeted more than 12-fold since 1991, according to Yuri Osipov, chairman of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The Shemyakin Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry in Moscow was known as the 'Crown of Soviet Science'. Yet for five years, from the late 1980s to the early 1990s, Dr. Modyanov, a professor of pharmacology could not carry out any experiments there because he had no money to buy equipment. He now works at the Block Health Science Building on the Medical College of Ohio The University of Ohio is also trying to help the Russian labs by giving them a grant. The grant is for only $6000.00, but it is a start on the long road of recovery.

Russia is slowly beginning to gain a foothold in the global economy. In July of 2002 the first consignment of Russian oil was received by the U.S. The supertanker Astro Lupus brought two million barrels of Russian crude oil to this country. This was the first time in history that a tanker of oil was delivered to the U.S. directly from Russia. The oil was sold to the U.S. by the Russian company Yukos. The reserves of oil and natural gas are considerable in Russia and the U.S. hopes it will be able to replace oil from some unstable middle eastern countries.

Since the fall of communism, Russian scientists have been flocking to the U.S. in droves. Some Russian scientists had rare knowledge in a particular field and were highly prized by U.S. firms. Other scientists are in demand because of a shortage of scientists in a particular field in this country. What some of these scientists are finding out, however, is that their employment is of a temporary nature. When their specialization is no longer required they have to search for new contracts with other companies. It is infinitely better here for them, money wise, than in Russia at this point in time. As the economy improves in Russia this will change. There may be a period in time where they will be tempted to return. Right now, a Russian scientist who comes to this country not only receives much better pay, but gets the chance to work with better equipment, which in turn allows him or her to further his projects.

In this time of strife in Russian with Chechnya, a famous Russian scientist was murdered. Andrey Brushlinsky was the director of the institute of Psychology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. That is not the only reason his murder became so famous. It seems he was carrying a briefcase that the Russians said contained a unique method for searching out terrorists. The briefcase was taken. The concept was developed at one of the labs of the mentioned institute. This just illustrates the point of how hard it is to protect vital secrets from falling into the wrong hands in Russia. I am not saying that an event such as this couldn't happen in the U.S., but I am saying that due to the lack of funds and in some cases lax security, it is more likely to happen in Russia.

At the present time the U.S. was giving some monies to Russia to help pay for the destruction of nukes, but it is being held up temporarily. Maybe we should help subsidize some of the scientists that are in critical areas rather than have them tempted to sell their work products to people of a questionable nature. We could make an arrangement, where as we would be paid back from any inventions that these scientists sell commercially. After all this is just another method of curtailing dangerous weapons. Russian scientists have tremendous experience in building space vehicles and possess the world's most advanced rocket engine, which even the U.S. has used. A joint venture into space with the Russians would certainly be a plus.