Key conclusions
Despite the economic difficulties, culture, science and sport will continue to receive support in Russia
“Concerning the role of foreign players, it is also said: ‘Let’s refuse international players’. But, first, sports diplomacy, including in the form of participation by players and sportsmen in our country or our sportsmen abroad, is a powerful tool for developing relations between countries and between people. […] If we count the number of professional musicians… and count all the top professionals in such sports as football, ice-hockey, basketball, and other sports games, we find a roughly similar number of people, professionals in their field. I think that, no matter how difficult the times, ways and means will be found for sport and culture, with the help of science, to continue developing”, General Director, Football Club Zenit, Alexander Medvedev.
“I believe that we have entered a period in our history that has unexpectedly opened up a tremendous potential and maybe even new meanings. […] Russia has surprisingly received a chance… to take a real look at what is happening precisely here. We, people of Russia, must make maximum use of this opportunity and do, like our great forerunners did long ago, something in aggregate really major, really huge that will not only keep us standing firmly on our feet, on our land, but also thus become globally significant. When you are strong at home, you are strong in the world”, Artistic, General Director, State Academic Mariinsky Theatre, Valery Gergiev.
“We have created a system of immunity, a system of state guarantees that, by the way, has really worked”, General Director, The State Hermitage Museum, Mikhail Piotrovsky.
“Science must now be mainly focused on piercing the scientific and technical veil being lowered over our country”, President, Russian Academy of Sciences, Alexander Sergeev.
Insufficient financing of culture, science and art, attempts to level out the significance of these spheres for the life of society
“1% of our GDP goes to science; for many years, we have wanted more, but it doesn’t come off. Two-thirds of this 1% comes from the state and the rest from businesses. […] Looking not just at how much money goes from our pocket to support our science but at how much we, our country, I mean the treasury, and companies, spend on science and technology, it turns out to be over 2%”, President, Russian Academy of Sciences, Alexander Sergeev.
“During the current difficult times, when hotheads say to us: “What do we need professional sport for?”, — I believe this is a profound misperception since, without high quality, interesting, professional sport, there won’t be any physical culture. Previously, and now too, boys and girls have attended sports groups because they want to be like their idols, and we had, have and will have such idols... If there is no professional sport, there will be no striving to engage in sport, I am sure of this”, General Director, Football Club Zenit, Alexander Medvedev.
SOLUTIONS
Creation of qual conditions for engaging in sport, cultural enlightenment and education throughout Russia irrespective of people’s material position
“Today, ice-hockey is an expensive sport that not every family can afford. This means advance discrimination against some children compared to all the others. […] The meaning of the new solutions is simple, I believe: to take a look, remove discrimination, especially socially. […] I think it would be a good idea today to have the state or big businesses pay for hockey sticks and skates for children. Meaning, the boundary will beerased for ever. Plus, I think, modern methods, and we can find our own way… there is a possibility to create equal opportunities. […] We need to get away from oligarch clubs; we need to create equal conditions for all. […] Teams from Siberia, the Far East and other parts of our vast country must have equal opportunities”, Goodwill Ambassador, The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); Chairman, All-Russia Society of Nature Conservation, Vyacheslav Fetisov.
“The additional percentage [of the GDP that could be allocated for financing science and culture – Ed.] — this is the money our companies spend on buying know-how abroad. That’s a reserve we already have. If we learn, together with companies, to behave in such a way that the plus 1% goes not to buying know-how and technologies abroad but to our own institutes, our own scientists, then we will, to considerable extent, turn this situation around”, President, Russian Academy of Sciences, Alexander Sergeev.
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