Russian scientists plead poverty

MOSCOW, Russia -- Hundreds of Russian scientists have rallied in Moscow at the end of a three-day protest march to highlight their poor pay and conditions.

The chemists, biologists and nuclear scientists gathered at the government's headquarters on Thursday to plead for better wages and research funding.

Speakers accused the government of only partially following through on President Vladimir Putin's vow to make rejuvenating Russia's scientific establishment a priority.

They say the government has set aside just 35 billion rubles ($1.1 billion) instead of the 49.5 billion rubles ($1.5 billion) pledged.

Many of the protesting scientists, some wearing white lab coats, were middle-aged or older, reflecting the low number of young people joining the profession because of its relatively poor pay.

Some have anecdotal evidence of colleagues who have left science for more lucrative employment, such as working in grocery stores.

Anis Gariyev, a chemical engineer at the Pushchino Research Centre in Pushchino outside Moscow, earns just 1,500-ruble a month ($48).

Going to work depresses him because several of the offices in his corridor stand empty, he todl The Associated Press.

Gariyev, 55, was among those who march to Moscow from Pushchino, 130 kilometers (80 miles) away.

"My feet are tired but the trip was worth it," he said. "It's for the future of Russia."

The former Soviet Union once boasted the largest number of scientists in the world, researchers responsible for the Soviet space programme, advances in superconductor research and vaccines -- and its vast nuclear, biological and chemical weapons programmes.

But more than half a million scientists have left Russia since the Soviet Union collapsed, the chairman of the Russian Academy of Sciences' trade unions said last week.