Russia is increasingly militarizing its higher education. Retired admirals are leading universities.
According to the Ministry of Defense of the United Kingdom on Twitter, in February 2024, a new military research institute was established at the Higher School of Economics (HSE) in Moscow. The Institute of World Military Economics and Strategy was founded by political scientist Sergey Karaganov. It will be headed by Admiral Sergey Avakyants, former commander of the Pacific Fleet, relieved of command in April 2023. Avakyants believes that Russia is in a state of long-term confrontation with the West.
According to British intelligence, the new institute will cover politics and economics but will focus on the military-industrial complex of foreign countries. It will also focus on studying strategic deterrence and the role of nuclear weapons.
The institute is proposed to recruit primarily from various faculties of the HSE. It will also invite researchers from various military academies, such as the Russian Academy of the General Staff.
"This will highly likely lead to closer interaction between Russian academia and the defence sector, boosting the militarisation of higher education," the Ministry of Defense of the United Kingdom notes.
