Putin plans to reform science centers

MOSCOW, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- Russian state-run research centers will be restructured, President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday.

"We are planning an effective restructuring of state-run research organizations in which state stakes will only suffice to fulfill the set public tasks," Putin told the presidential Council for Science, Technologies and Education in the Kremlin.

Putin wants to revive Russian state-sponsored science research, which collapsed for lack of funding following the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the Interfax news agency reports. But he also wants to avoid a return to the bureaucratic old Soviet system of funding scientific research which was extremely costly and non-productive.