Mykola Azarov, the former prime minister of Ukraine during the time of Viktor Yanukovych, was elected an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences. About this reported BBC Russian service.
Azarov ran for the Department of Earth Sciences with a specialty of “mining sciences” and has a scientific degree of Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences in Russia. Azarov’s candidacy was supported by 527 academicians, 14 opposed, and 15 abstained.
The election was a unique case: he became the first academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences with the “Worst zero” index. This index reflects scientific productivity by the number of publications and citations. Azarov has no scientific articles, and he is not in the Scopus database, which tracks the citation of scientific works. Previously, Azarov was a corresponding member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, but in 2022 he was expelled.
We will remind, in 2023, the Security Service of Ukraine announced new suspicions against Azarov under four articles. The SBU notes that he is outside Ukraine, hiding from justice and acting in the interests of Russian special services, carrying out their instructions regarding subversive activities against Ukraine, in particular spreading Kremlin narratives on Russian propaganda talk shows.
