154 



d) In May 1991, the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences established 

 an Arctic Center in Moscow to help set science priorities and help coordinate 

 research. Also established in Magadan was the International Center "ARKTIKA" 

 with U.S. and Russian Co-Directors. ARKTIKA will facilitate joint research by 

 providing logistic arrangements within the Russian Far East. It demonstrated 

 this capability for our recent trip by arranging meeting space, meals, hotels and 

 transportation by bus, fixed wing plane and helicopter. We traveled about 2700 

 miles in the Russian Arctic. 



e) The issue of the scientific quality of past Russian data and the currency of 

 some areas of Russian science continues to be of concerri among western 

 scientists. On the first point, my recent observations are that Russian scientists 

 are vigorously exercising their independence of political control. They are 

 eager to establish the independence, integrity and rigor of their work. On the 

 issue of quality control, we can help ourselves and Russian science by insisting 

 that scientific proposals as well as resulting scientific articles for publication be 

 rigorously reviewed by objective international expert peers. 



In Conclusion 



There is no doubt based on my observations and experience that Russian 

 scientists very much want to collaborate in research even on sensitive issues such as 

 radioactive dumping and environmental damage. They have capabilities and 

 experiences to contribute, but almost no funds to support cooperative efforts. It is in 

 U.S. interests to collaborate for at least two fundamental reasons: 1) we need to 

 know if the Arctic is threatened by pollutants before toxicants reach our shores, and 2) 

 assisting Russian science is a sound contribution to a stable Russia and to world 

 peace. In my opinion it is also morally and scientifically the right thing to do. It is also 

 desirable to collaborate on a multi-national level among circumpolar nations. 



