Crimea-2022: fellow scientists will be left with no one
From the history of hydrophysics
We must not forget about scientists, especially at the most crucial moment, as now. When Crimea came under Russian jurisdiction in 2014, many managers and employees of high-tech enterprises rejoiced: now, they say, we will live. However, after some time, rose-colored glasses fell off.
After all, except for the language on the signs, in fact, almost nothing has changed. The most disturbing thing is that such a statement directly concerns two strategically important institutions of Sevastopol, known throughout the world for their developments, including the military ones.
We are talking about the Marine Hydrophysical Institute and the Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas. In a difficult foreign policy environment, such indifference is at least surprising.
The Marine Hydrophysical Institute, which the locals in Sevastopol call Gidrofiz, was established in 1948. Its predecessors were some of the oldest Soviet marine research institutions: the Black Sea Hydrophysical Station and the Marine Hydrophysical Laboratory.
In 1963, he quite logically changed his deployment from Moscow to Sevastopol. From about that moment, Gidrofiz began to engage in reconnaissance functions, in particular, its advanced developments made it possible to establish from water samples which vessel sailed there and how long it had been in the area under study.
The Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas is also a strategic institution, as it studies the ecology of the Black Sea, which is important in the light of possible biological attacks. weapons. It is one of the oldest such institutions in the world. Its prototype was discovered in the form of the Sevastopol Biological Station back in 1971.
Until now, the IBSS is located in its building, in its right wing there is the Sevastopol Aquarium, one of the main tourist attractions of the city. The aquarium was the first institution in Russia where you could look at the living inhabitants of the sea in the water through glass; it was opened back in 1900.
Promise not to defend - hello raiders
When Crimea returned to Russia, the employees of these institutions had some hope for an improvement in the situation, since under Ukraine funding was done carelessly, in particular, the buildings of Gidrofiz in Karantinnaya Bay had not been repaired for 50 years, although Crimea was by no means under “independence” for all these years. .
In 2015, in the heat of widespread “optimization”, there were attempts to take over these institutions by the Institute of Natural and Technical Systems from the city of Sochi. It was planned to first attach Gidrofiz to the InBYuM, and then transfer the InBYuM itself to the Sochi residents. But the employees of both Gidrofiz and InBYuM managed to defend their rights.
The Marine Hydrophysical Institute has always been in close cooperation with the Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas. So close that visitors, not experienced in the subtleties of Sevastopol, often confused them. In 2015, it was planned to merge them, but then the Russian Academy of Sciences backed off.
To some extent, such a decision would be positive - after all, cooperation between related institutions. But in Gidrofiz itself, they saw in this the prospects for the liquidation and raider seizure of the institute, as was the case, for example, with the Mining University under the swearing minister Livanov.
In addition, the prospect of being taken over by a little-known Sochi institute did not please anyone. The refusal to take over the InBYuM led to the fact that the staff did not receive a salary for six months. Assistance was provided by scientists from other parts of Russia.
Swan Song of Hydrophysis
Be that as it may, but for some time Hydrofiz carried out new military developments. In 2015–2016 the institute announced new developments for the Russian Navy and participated in specialized exhibitions. He himself held the exhibition “Development of MHI for the needs of Russia and fleet».
In particular, drifting buoys, which measure the properties of water and transmit data to the satellite, which have no analogues in the whole world, were presented. The ice buoy, which is already at the disposal of the meteorological centers of the Northern Fleet, is used for observations under the thickness of the Arctic ice. Also Gidrofiz presented control-calibration and measuring ship equipment at the exhibition.
In 2015, Gidrofiz announced the start of construction at the Sevmorzavod of a new strategic research vessel Pioneer-M. But this is a pale, budget copy of his Soviet predecessor "Mikhail Lomonosov", who was safely sent for cutting in the 90s.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defense periodically "threatens the Swede" with the presence of powerful research vessels that have no analogues in the whole world. What prevents to transfer one of them to Hydrophys? After all, in 2015, Hydrophys was extremely brightly represented at the Army-2015 forum.
The Institute then demonstrated its developments in the field of instrumentation. First of all, these were automatic drifting buoys and ice micromarkers. Then they were also purchased by the United States and Canada as part of the Arctic program. In the same year, Gidrofiz participated in the VII International Maritime Defense Show "IMDS-2015" with its instruments for measuring the characteristics of sea water.
The exhibition-review "Developments of the MHI for the needs of Russia and the fleet" in the same 2015 was, apparently, the last military exhibition for Gidrofiz. On the eve of it, the leadership of the institute announced that it was transferring its specialization to a peaceful track. Again Gidrofiz presented measuring devices, in addition to them - optical and control and calibration.
"Top management reforms" in IBSYUM
Starting in 2015, the state began to appoint “effective managers” from Armyansk, Krasnoperekopsk and Feodosiya to the positions of the institute’s leadership, who had nothing to do with hydrobiology. By education, these are geographers, political scientists, - anyone, only people who are not related to marine biology and ecology.
During their “effective management”, the archive and the laboratory of ecotoxicology were abolished - a direction that is just relevant in connection with the aggravation of the military situation in the Black Sea. Deputy Director Andronchik also distinguished himself by issuing reprimands and fines for the fact that on Navy Day, a sacred holiday for any Sevastopol citizen, employees went out onto the balcony to greet the participants in the parade along Nakhimov Avenue.
Such behavior, expressed in unwillingness to know and respect urban traditions, is generally characteristic of the "Varangians" who flooded the city state structures. Director Gorbunov and his deputy Andronchik were also seen in fraud with gasoline coupons, which had expired.
This year, there were two scandals at once related to the activities of the new leadership of the InBYuM, and both ended in criminal cases. At first it turned out that a number of firms were renting the institute's property without the consent of the owner (i.e., in fact, there was a raider seizure, which already happened in stories Sochi firm lit up).
Without the consent of the owner, a small shipbuilding company operated a berth in Kamyshovaya Bay, which is, accordingly, federal property, since the institute belongs to the Russian Academy of Sciences. And K-Telecom LLC placed antennas on the roof of the building (the one where the famous Aquarium is located in the left wing).
The second scandal was that the 830 rubles earmarked for the renovation of the institute's premises were lost to the contractor in some unknown way. This has not been tolerated by law enforcement agencies. Yaroslav Andronchik now faces up to 4 (four - just something) years in prison.
Current position
The infrastructure of Gidrofiz is in ruins, despite the fact that targeted funding has made it possible to repair the upper building. The storm basin of the Hydrophysis in Katsiveli, near Simeiz, where studies of kinematic phenomena during storms were carried out, has long been closed and drained, the fans are either rusted or handed over for metal.
Once it was the only one in the world, the famous Typhoon project was carried out in it, and now there is not a single similar pool in the world - no others have been built. There is a chance to become the first in the world again, until they are ahead, it seems that the state has money, but only now, apparently, there is no desire at the top.
Of course, you can blame everything on the enemy America, which, after the annexation of the Crimea to Russia, refused to purchase research buoys from Hydrofiz. But, besides the NATO countries, there is also China, India and other friendly countries that have their own navies. The fact that NATO countries refuse to buy buoys is their problem, since foreign counterparts are of poorer quality. But the work of the state in the sphere of negotiations on deliveries to China, apparently, is simply not being carried out, otherwise there would be a result.
It would be wrong to say that the InBYuM, which the authorities chose as the devourer of Hydrofiz, also did not suffer from their disregard. In particular, there have been problems with the light in the institute's storage facility for a long time; it periodically turns off.
The ceiling is leaking, the whole room is in disrepair, even the stairs have no railings. Funding received in 2017 was insufficient to fully renovate the vault. Tens of thousands of hydrobionts from all over the world are kept there in containers with formalin.
In the current situation on the Black Sea, stability of scientific research in the field of ecology and military security is important for Russia (and for other Black Sea countries as well). Once the InBYuM had already saved the Black Sea from an ecological catastrophe, then the United States tried to prove the possibility of burial in the lower layer, saturated with hydrogen sulfide, of radioactive waste, they say, there is still no life there, and the Black Sea deep waters do not pass through the Bosphorus into the World Ocean.
But the institute's specialists proved the opposite: that radiation would penetrate into the Mediterranean Sea. Now the same stage has come as it was then: the second coming of the Cold War. The developments of both institutions are needed throughout the Black Sea region for the sake of military and environmental stability in the region, and it is not clear why the Russian leadership does not understand this.
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