The Russian-speaking Academic Science Association, RASA, was proclaimed an "undesirable" organization by the Russian government. To understand this organization, one needs to dive into the world of 2008 that seems so different to today, it may as well be fiction. 

Russia had just elected a new president, aged 42 (my goodness, I’m about the same age). His favourite band was Deep Purple, he used an iPhone, founded a Russian competitor to Silicon Valley and welcomed Arnold Schwarzenegger to the building site near Moscow. The economy had been thriving for years, escaped the worst of the 2008 global financial crisis and quickly recovered. Slowly, the government realised that the wealth is now enough to invest into science, still holding strong on what remains from the U.S.S.R., but completely neglected for over a decade. 

Simultaneously, the diaspora of Russian scientists was growing, as many of the most brilliant minds seek opportunities abroad, especially in natural sciences where lab hardware and supplies are crucial for the quality of research and the ambitiousness of goals you can set for yourself. By the end of the 2000s those who left in the 90s are well-off, becoming professors of worldwide renown, having their research groups and their personal stability.

In a (purely) Western spirit of supporting those who helped them along the way, they glance back to Russian science that with all its problems gave them a free excellent undergrad degree or a PhD from a top laboratory. They keep in touch with their alma mater, through collaborations, emeritus positions, eventual lecturing but feel the power to do more, helping........

© The Moscow Times