Mark Solonin shared in his latest video some information and reflections that made one think. His first thought was that a true professional simply signs with his name; non-specialists always accompany the surname with titles like “academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences,” “corresponding member of the International Academy of Informatization,” “senior research scientist of the International Institute for the Study of Global Threats to Universal Security” and that such a long signature is a “red flag.”
To substantiate his thesis, he presents interesting figures and facts. The “Law on Science” of 1996 allowed scientists to create “public academies of sciences” — meaning essentially any association of citizens can call itself an academy and distribute titles. As early as 2013, Kommersant counted more than 80 academies of sciences in the country, of which six were state academies. The rest, more than seventy, are public organizations where memberships are sold or distributed by their own rules.
Among them, the absolute record holder is a former reference office. The “International Academy of Informatization” grew out of the Moscow City Reference Service. Its founders included the leadership of the Moscow City Reference Service, and its first president was its director. In 1990, the “Academy of Informatization of the USSR” was registered as a small enterprise. Today, it proudly announces on its website: more than 19,000 active members. Nineteen thousand academics from one office. The chairman of the Russian Academy of Sciences Commission against Pseudoscience Eduard Kruglyakov wrote that the MAI stamps out specialists in 101 specialties, including astrology, ufology, telepathy, and telekinesis. Bonus — since 1995, the MAI has had consultative status with the UN ECOSOC (don’t laugh, this is the Economic and Social Council at the UN), so now there are also “academicians at the UN.”
The most dangerous is the one that sounds the most solid. The Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (RANS) – by 2003 had about 4000 members. The name is almost indistinguishable from RAS, and it indeed includes real academicians — hence the signature “corresponding member of RANS” works so well on the unprepared reader (for example, “‘We will literally defeat everyone’: a brilliant scientist-prophet predicted the triumph of Russia” — this headline is about Kvasha, a cor.-m. of this RANS). The president of the RAS Yuri Osipov directly asked at a meeting of the Presidium — who preaches torsion fields? — and answered himself: RANS. In 2006, 29-year-old Ramzan Kadyrov became an honorary member of RANS. The president of RANS later confirmed that the title was awarded for saving the lives of servicemen in Chechnya.
There was also the Academy of Security, Defense, and Law Enforcement Issues (2000–2008). According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, it, along with its “National Public Rewards Committee,” established 73 types of awards identical to state ones, introduced academic degrees, its own military uniform, and military ranks. It issued identifications of professor, corresponding member, and academician, externally similar to state ones. Annual budget — about a million dollars. This is the only “academy” that was eventually shut down (December 10, 2008; the Supreme Court liquidated it at the request of the Prosecutor General — not for trading titles, but for imitating state awards). The former president was fined 500 rubles.
In 2013, there were 500 academicians in the RAS. After the reform and the addition of the Medical and Agricultural Academies, their number increased to 941 by 2025 — a growth of 71%. This is not the assessment of “enemies of science”: this is reported by the chief research scientist of the Institute for Science Development Issues of the RAS in the journal “Economics of Science,” particularly noting the election of officials, politicians, and businessmen to academicians, and cases of nepotism.
To defend a thesis, you need publications in “vakovskie” journals. The list today includes more than three thousand such journals. Imagine, in Russia, there are several thousand scientific journals that no one reads 🙂
In general, the thought is quite original — when you see the signature “academician of such-and-such academy, corresponding member of such-and-such, senior research scientist of the international institute of something,” — it’s not a credential, but a red flag. A real professional has a name. And that’s enough.
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 