Pro-Stalin historian becomes Russia’s minister of science

Science : On 19 August, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced the appointment of Olga Vasilyeva to replace Dmitry Livanov as minister of science. Vasilyeva, a historian and expert on the Russian Orthodox Church, had been the head of the religious studies department at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. She says her first goal in office is to examine organizational reforms that Livanov put into place, including the downsizing and reorganization of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). Although some members of the RAS welcome Vasilyeva’s appointment, citing her experience in the executive office, others are concerned about her lack of science training and her political views. Vasilyeva is perhaps best known for crediting Joseph Stalin with uniting Russia prior to World War II, and she has said that “the scale of Stalin’s repressions has been exaggerated” in several public lectures.