Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (1952- )
Moscow, 20 August 2008 (RIA-Novosti):
Around 600 billion roubles (24.627 billion USD. 16.608 billion euros. 13.173 billion UK pounds) will be earmarked for a series of high-tech programmes until 2010, Prime Minister Putin said Wednesday at a conference on science and education. “We have never provided this sort of money for such purposes before”, Mr Putin said. He also announced that a five-year program for fundamental research worth 250 billion roubles (10.261 USD. 6.92 billion euros. 5.489 billion UK pounds) was approved. The programme should boost Russia’s socio-economic development and enhance its security, Putin said. He criticised the Russian research sphere for dependency on federal budget funding and insufficient cooperation with education, and urged measures to develop the commercial potential of research.
RIA-Novosti
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080820/116166234.html (in English)
