Andrey Vandenko
All paths are open to our young people, I’d like to believe.
Vladimir Putin
I hope so.
Andrey Vandenko
Have you heard of this meme: "How do you like it, Elon Musk?".
Vladimir Putin
No.
Andrey Vandenko
But have you heard about Elon Musk?
Vladimir Putin
Of course.
Andrey Vandenko
He is launching a Tesla into space, while Rogozin is creating an elevator to the moon.
Vladimir Putin
An elevator to the moon? And so?
Andrey Vandenko
They’re in different leagues.
Vladimir Putin
I can give you some other examples. One group of young people from a graduating class showed up. This whole group of people came on the scene...
Andrey Vandenko
Where?
Vladimir Putin
To one of our institutes and created the Iskander. This group of young people from a graduating class showed up and in a few years they created the Iskander. One of our cutting-edge weapons that we are proud of. The best in the world. [Other] young people showed up and invented Peresvet... These are the examples from the defense industry. They scored this success.
Andrey Vandenko
So, let them create a Tesla-like passenger car.
Vladimir Putin
Prokhorov promised that he would make...
Andrey Vandenko
A plane?
Vladimir Putin
He didn't succeed yet.
Andrey Vandenko
Ah, yes, the Yo-mobile
Vladimir Putin
He promised, he showed it to me. I even went for a ride in it. But this hasn’t been working out for him so far. In the high-tech field and in the nuclear sphere we’ve been making great strides. We’ve beaten the competition, outperformed everyone, we're the world's largest manufacturer of nuclear units for power plants. Not weapons, mind you. This is high-tech, state-of-the-art technology. If we look at military equipment, say military aviation, we are really on top here. We'll continue moving forward as well in the civilian sector. We already have our own pharmaceutical products, very good ones. And so on. Step by step, it's gaining momentum.
Andrey Vandenko
I meant something different.
Vladimir Putin
What?
Andrey Vandenko
When I mentioned Musk. Though he is not an idol, but some sort of an example for others.
Vladimir Putin
Fine, but...
Andrey Vandenko
Whom can we offer up as an alternative, well, not an American...
Vladimir Putin
We have Kaspersky. I believe he is really good at what he does. He is a leader, without a doubt. If the screws hadn’t been tightened, if competition hadn’t been artificially stifled, it would have been much better. That’s exactly what crossed my mind right now.
Andrey Vandenko
How do you feel about the fact that according to one of the opinion polls half of [Russia’s] young people want to leave the country?
Vladimir Putin
There are all sorts of opinion polls. And target groups can also differ. Some want to leave, others want to return. As I have already said, the latter’s numbers are on the rise. Certainly, if we want our people to fulfill their ambitions in their own country, the state must boost its efforts to ensure this. And we will do so. I think that the number of good specialists is steadily growing and the fact that our specialists find employment in the global labor market means that we provide a good higher education.
Andrey Vandenko
Does the Leaders of Russia contest live up to your expectations?
Vladimir Putin
Yes, of course. They are really great guys. However, not only is there this Leaders of Russia contest that we have, but there is also Russia – Land of Opportunity. There are a whole number of mechanisms that seem to be working very efficiently.
Andrey Vandenko
And what do you think the criteria is? The number of public appointees or the number of proposals coming from…
Vladimir Putin
Among the aforementioned projects, we don’t have a single contest for a specific job or office. We simply allow people to expand their knowledge and capabilities even more, yet simultaneously, when working with these people, representatives of major corporations or ministries and agencies pick out future employees. Actually, by doing so we have already found ministers, deputy ministers and even governors and deputy governors. This is a very good social elevator.
Andrey Vandenko
The Sirius project also represents such a new experience. I mean the Sirius center.
Vladimir Putin
Sirius is a little bit different.
Andrey Vandenko
Surely. It deals with youngsters, I mean.
Vladimir Putin
Absolutely, but this is a method of working with gifted children. We have never had… Well, we had.
Andrey Vandenko
In Soviet times?
Vladimir Putin
Yes… Really, when I was deciding to create Sirius I... By the way, do you know how this idea emerged?
Andrey Vandenko
No.
Vladimir Putin
Olympic facilities in the Imereti Valley. Suggestions immediately started coming in to dismantle something and relocate it somewhere. But dismantling and relocation would cost us about the same as constructing something new. It would be better to change the location and finally I decided to construct something new in some other place. But how to make use of what is available? At first, a simple, even primitive, thought entered my mind: to use these facilities for children's sports. But later I thought. Why just for sports? We inherited a system of advanced education and training from the USSR. I mean physics and mathematics schools, biology schools, then conservatory music colleges, ballet schools. We are proud of all this. And, of course, sports, that is figure skating, our prestigious sports where we've got good capabilities and where we've been successful, and also hockey. So, I came up with an idea of putting this together.
Andrey Vandenko
Do you mean the original idea was yours?
Vladimir Putin
Yes, yes, I came up with this. And one colleague of mine who was invited there told one of his colleagues: "He's not going to succeed". But why? He says: to start with, your hockey players will beat up the math whiz kids. Yet, nothing like this has occurred there. Because kids, even powerful athletic lads, respect their peers who achieve noticeable successes in their fields because they know that this requires great efforts and talent. So, Sirius… By the way, this name – it was me who invented it. I was sitting and thinking about the name and suddenly I recalled that the brightest star in the sky is Sirius. It is the gathering place for the brightest kids. That is why I proposed this name. And the name stuck.
Andrey Vandenko
Because of course it did!
Vladimir Putin
But why?
Andrey Vandenko
Putin said!
Vladimir Putin
Anything can happen. Here, we use the system of selecting gifted kids established back in the Soviet Union. I mean these physics and mathematics schools, biology schools, music schools and so on. From these schools, every 21 days we pick a group of kids for Sirius and arrange 21‑day training courses for them. Then we pick out those with the best potential. It turned out to be a very good idea. Moreover, do you know what is interesting and what I love about this? Here, we see athletes communicating with math geniuses while math geniuses may go to see a hockey match or ballet performance for the first time. Thus, they get involved with physical culture. This is really great. I like this very much. The next step should be to create a modern university. There, we have already set up a scientific cluster of laboratories specializing in such priority fields. There are several of them, four, I guess. And then here we intend to create a technology park consisting of a school, a university, and a scientific laboratory, where new innovations can materialize. We'll integrate the whole process.
Sources: kremlin.ru, oec.world, rsv.ru.