Power Grab Trumps Nanotechnology in Putin’s Russia
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May 17 (Bloomberg) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin’schanging attitude toward two giant government-led high-techprojects sends a troubling message about his third term inoffice: Maintaining power is more important than modernizing theeconomy.
The projects, known as Rusnano and Skolkovo, were meant topropel Russia’s raw-material economy into the technology age.They involved multibillion-dollar government investments, thefirst in nanotechnology and the second in a new city that wouldbecome Russia’s answer to Silicon Valley. They were supposed toprovide the infrastructure and stability required to attractlarge amounts of foreign investment.