Under the Development of the Nuclear Power Industry Complex state programme, Rosatom State Corporation will receive funds to pay in 2018-2020 the Russian Federation’s targeted annual contributions to the IAEA Technical Cooperation Fund. Funds for these purposes are provided for in the federal budget for 2018 and the planning period of 2019 and 2020.

Reference

Submitted by Rosatom State Corporation.

In accordance with Federal Law No. 362-FZ of 5 December 2017, On the Federal Budget for 2018 and the Planning Period of 2019 and 2020, the amount of contributions to international organisations, including the IAEA Technical Cooperation Fund (hereinafter referred to as the Fund) was defined for Rosatom State Corporation.

The Fund is the main instrument of technical cooperation between the IAEA member countries. In accordance with IAEA regulations, the Fund’s resources are used to pay for the services of experts and consultants, to purchase equipment and materials, and to provide other assistance approved by the IAEA Board of Governors. The Fund’s resources are distributed in large part in the interests of developing countries to implement projects for the peaceful use of atomic energy. Russian organisations and experts are involved in the implementation of these projects.

Under the signed directive, Rosatom State Corporation will receive funds to pay the Russian Federation’s contributions to the Fund in the amount of up to 2.55 million euros in 2018 and up to 2.56 million euros annually in 2019 and 2020.

Rosatom State Corporation is entrusted with coordinating the work on technical cooperation with the IAEA and monitoring the use of the allocated funds.

The directive will provide for Russia’s full-fledged participation in IAEA activities and will contribute to resolving the task of strengthening the innovative capacity of Russian nuclear technologies and expanding the scope of their use, as defined in the Development of the Nuclear Power Industry Complex state programme.

A 614,803 hectare nature reserve will be created within The Great Vasyugan Mire, the largest swamp system in the Northern Hemisphere, which is located in the Tomsk and Novosibirsk regions. The reserve will preserve the unique and diverse ecosystem, which is of great significance for nature conservation. The decision will provide the legal foundation for taking special measures to protect the ecosystem and facilities in the nature reserve.

Reference

The proposal was submitted by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in keeping with the Federal Law On Specially Protected Nature Areas.

The Government gave the green light to the creation of a state nature reserve in the Tomsk and Novosibirsk regions as per the Plan for Implementing the Concept for the Development of Specially Protected Natural Areas of Federal Significance to 2020 (approved by Government Directive No. 2322-r of 22 December 2011) and the Plan for Marking the Year of the Environment in Russia in 2017 (approved by Government Directive No. 1082-r of 2 June 2016).

The resolution signed by the Government provides for the creation of the Vasyugansky State Nature Reserve to include 614,803 hectares of woodland in adjacent territories of the Tomsk and Novosibirsk regions.

The nature reserve is located within the Great Vasyugan Mire, the largest swamp system in the Northern Hemisphere.

The mire accumulates up to 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year and holds 400 cubic kilometres of fresh water; over 20 rivers flow from this area. The area provides a home for 242 plant species, 40 mammal species, 185 bird species, 5 amphibian and reptile species, and about 340 species of insects and at least 10 species of fish in the water bodies. Some species of plants and animals have protected status, for example, 41 species of animals and eight species of plants are in Russia’s Red Data Book and the Tomsk Region’s Red Data Book. Migrant birds flock to the area during their seasonal migration.

The Great Vasyugan Mire has been included on the preliminary list of UNESCO world natural heritage sites.

The initiative to establish a nature reserve aims to preserve the unique and diverse ecosystem, which is of great significance for nature conservation.

The results of a comprehensive ecological survey and inspection of the area, which provide grounds for designating Vasyugansky State Nature Reserve a federal nature protected area, have gone through public hearings and have received a positive response in a state environmental report.

The decision will provide the legal foundation for taking special measures to protect the ecosystem and facilities within the nature reserve.

In order to create and launch the Nuclotron-based Ion Collider Faсility (NICA), money is allocated to the budget of the international intergovernmental research organisation, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, for the construction on Russian territory of an international-level experimental base for fundamental research into a number of current issues of contemporary physics.

Reference

Submitted by the Ministry of Education of Russia.

In accordance with Government Directive No. 783-r dated 27 April 2016, the Ministry of Education on behalf of the Government of the Russian Federation signed an agreement on the creation of the Nuclotron-based Ion Collider Faсility (NICA) with the international intergovernmental research organisation, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (hereinafter referred to as the Agreement and NICA, respectively).

NICA is located in Dubna (Moscow region), on the premises of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, and involves the creation of an accelerator with heavy ion and polarised beams, experimental equipment to conduct hadron research, a NICA centre for innovative designs with high-technology equipment for scientists and other specialists, as well as a training base for researchers and engineers.

Under the Agreement, the project’s total cost is 17,500 million roubles, 8,800 million of which come from Russia. Under the plan, the NICA will be built in 2016–2020.

In 2016, the Russian Ministry of Education allocated 4,837.9 million roubles to the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. 

In accordance with Federal Law No. 326 dated 14 November 2017, On Amending the Federal Law On the Federal Budget for 2017 and the 2018-2019 Planning Period, 3,962.1 million roubles are allocated to the Russian Ministry of Education in 2017 under the International Cooperation in Science subprogramme of the state programme Science and Technology Development for 2013-2020, which provide for the implementation of Russia’s obligation to create NICA up to 2019.

Under the signed directive, the Russian Ministry of Education is authorised to pay part of the fee to the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research from these funds in 2017.

This decision will help create in Russia an international-level experimental base for fundamental research into a number of important current issues in contemporary physics.

Excerpts from Dmitry Medvedev’s opening remarks at a Government meeting.

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Dmitry Medvedev: As you know, the International Olympic Committee took the decision to suspend the Russian Olympic Committee and made it impossible for our athletes to compete under the Russian flag. In this context, I would like to say a few words, taking into consideration the position articulated yesterday by the President of Russia, as well as the Government’s perspective, since all this also affects our work.

First of all, the decision clearly has a fact-based and a political side. It is obvious that there was a doping issue in Russian sport, and we openly recognised this. We launched proactive efforts to address it. An Independent Public Anti-Doping Commission was established, as you may recall. A special plan, called the National Plan to Fight Doping in Russian Sport, was adopted alongside a package of measures to implement this plan. This goes to say that we started serious work. I’m not even talking about amendments to administrative offences legislation and the Criminal Code. We developed informational and educational programmes to prevent anti-doping rule violations by athletes and team staff.

This line of action or policy continues to this day, so we have not given up on any of these initiatives. On the contrary, we have been keeping up this momentum no matter the context of any decisions, and will continue moving in this direction in the future.

More to be posted soon…

Pursuant to requirements of the World Anti-Doping Agency regarding financial and economic independence of the future national anti-doping laboratory, a decision has been made to incorporate the Anti-Doping Centre into Lomonosov Moscow State University as its structural division.

Reference

Prepared by the Russian Ministry of Education and Science in accordance with the decisions of the 11 October 2016 meeting of the Presidential Council for the Development of Physical Culture and Sport (item 2c on the list of Presidential Instructions No. Pr-2179 of 9 November 2016).

The Anti-Doping Centre (hereinafter referred to as the “ADC”) is the only agency in Russia that is dealing with doping-related examination of athletes.

The ADC, which is to be integrated with the Moscow State University as its structural division, will provide anti-doping support to Russian national sports teams, carry out independent testing of samples of biological materials for doping control, while also conducting research aimed at preventing and fighting doping in sports. The aim of the decision is to improve the anti-doping support of Russian national sports teams.