What about reputation?

The Russian president’s advisor Sergei Glazyev seems to remain a foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU). Ukrainian academicians refuse to expel an odious colleague of theirs from their ranks in spite of his negative attitude to all things Ukrainian and Ukrainophobic statements. For example, in his latest interviews with foreign publications, Glazyev insisted on the federalization of Ukraine and said the current government was following in the footsteps of Nazis and Bandera. It will be recalled that Glazyev was elected foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2009 in the category “Theory of Economic Development.”

Experts are surprised why the NASU has not yet addressed this matter and not stripped Glazyev of the foreign member status. “How can you demand that Sergei Glazyev, a Russian, be expelled from the academy for his anti-Ukrainian stand in the armed conflict between our states, when a number of academy members, citizens of Ukraine (not just academicians – some of them are directors of academy-sponsored research institutes), allowed themselves to publish such things in the Russian press during the Russian intervention, against the backdrop of which Sergei Glazyev looks like a convinced Bandera follower and Maidanophile? Before demanding the expulsion of foreign members, you’d better begin with lustrating our own academicians,” says political writer and former academy associate Andrii Plakhonin on his Facebook page in a sarcastic response to the NASU’s position.

The online community is now actively discussing the NASU’s official statement about the Glazyev case. “Under Article 19 of the academy’s statute, the NASU personnel comprise full members, corresponding members, and foreign members. NASU members are elected for life,” the NASU explanation says.

In other words, nobody is going to be expelled now or in the future. “I am aware of the National Academy’s wish to make itself safe against the use of the expulsion mechanism in the future, for example, in a conflict with some dissident academicians,” says Maksym Strikha, Doctor of Sciences (Physics and Mathematics), chief research fellow at the Institute of the Physics of Semiconductors. “There were scandalous instances in history, when Albert Einstein was expelled from the academy on Hitler’s orders or Andrei Sakharov was ousted from USSR Academy of Sciences, but I would advise making an exception for Glazyev. I hope this plan will be thwarted. I can see that the academy wishes to ‘remain clean and sober’ and stop short of taking this kind of precautionary measures. But Glazyev is an odious person, and if I were an academy member, I would find it uncomfortable to work with him. But, in general, this situation can tarnish the academy’s reputation in society and cast doubt on the very necessity of this institution.”