Business programme

When the world is changing before our eyes at cosmic speed, when we have no clue what will happen tomorrow, when some of our relatives and friends suddenly become an enemy, when for some people the ground is crumbling under their feet, and when some people are entering the world in the prime of their lives, you can lose your bearings and even the very meaning of life. For a while, the meaning of life may simply be survival – moral, emotional, and even physical. At the same time, though, you should always remember that every crisis in life can lead both to degradation, a fall, or a collapse, as well as to new goals, meanings, and peaks. And now is the perfect time to revise what we can lean on, understand what we need to give up, and ascertain what is superfluous, fake, superficial, and most likely imposed from the outside. And not only do we simply need to live and wait a while to comprehend everything that is happening to us, we also need to find new goals and meanings, or reinforce the ones you already had, while not forgetting that life is fleeting. We need to adapt to the new conditions and get through what are described as crises, but it’s not always easy for us to admit that new meanings are needed. We all want a magic pill or someone to tell us where and how to look for new meaning. People often go to fortune-tellers and astrologers for this. But the problem is that ready-made recipes usually don’t work. No one will decide for us what we need to do since only we know what does and doesn’t suit us. And there is only one way out – you have to try a lot of things and experiment. Science, culture, and sports are facing entirely new challenges that no one ever could have dreamed of, and a new cancel culture has even emerged – the cancellation of culture. We have always said that science, culture, and sports are beyond politics, but as it turns out, this is definitely not the case. What new meanings does it make sense for us to look for? What objectives should we set in international relations, which have changed overnight? And will science, culture, and sports help to create a new, living language in relations in the midst of a situation where the old one, much to everyone’s surprise, has become a dead language?

Moderator
Maxim Safonov, Professor, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)

Maxim Safonov

Professor, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)

Maxim Safonov is an international affairs expert in economics, and a prominent specialist in the banking services area. He has worked for a long time on the practical problems of developing banking and non-banking financial organizations, located in Russia and abroad. He has several decades of publications on the issues of national economic security, the regulation of financial systems, and anti-crisis management using financial organizations.
Professional experience:
2013-present: advisor/deputy President of the Russian Academy of Sciences
2011-2014: doctoral candidate at RANEPA under the auspices of the President of the Russian Federation (out of work)
2001-present: senior lecturer/associate professor/professor at the Academy for the National Economy under the auspices of the Russian government/ RANEPA under the auspices of the President of the Russian Federation
1999-2002: Chief Consultant of the Board of Directors/ Head of Analysis, Forecasting and Strategic Planning / Head of the Department of Development and Planning of the Bank for Foreign Economic Activities (Vnesheconombank).
1998-1999: director for corporate financing/deputy general director of Unicon/Consulting group
1996-1998: working and training abroad
1994-1996: advisor on specialized projects, City Mayor’s Office, St. Petersburg
1991-1992: general manager, Russian-American joint venture, the Hermitage Marketing Company
Education
1982-1987: Leningrad State University named after A.A. Zhdanov, Faculty of Oriental Studies, Orientalist and historian
1992–1994 : Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management and International Studies the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania; School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, International Affairs, PhD Related Program.
1996–1998: — John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Continuing Education Program, Business to Government Relations
1998-2000: The Banking Management Center/Faculty of Finance and Banking Business, Academy for the National Economy under the auspices of the Government of the Russian Federation, Finances and Credit, Banking Business, economist
2007-2009: Doctoral candidate at the Diplomatic Academy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Russian, The global economy and international relations, dissertation theme: “The Development of Approaches to Improve the Competitiveness of the National Economy by Attracting International Capital”.
2011-2014: Doctoral candidate at RANEPA, Management and the national economy sector, doctoral thesis on the “Transformation of the Management of Financial Resources in the National Economy Esing the Example of the Modernization of Public Corporations”.

Panellists
Sergey Bugaev, Soviet and Russian Artist, Musician, Actor
Valery Gergiev, Artistic, General Director, State Academic Mariinsky Theatre
Alexey Maslov, Director, Institute of Asian and African Studies, Lomonosov Moscow State University
Alexander Medvedev, General Director, Football Club Zenit
Julia Morozova, General Director, Creative Production
Mikhail Piotrovsky, General Director, The State Hermitage Museum
Alexander Rasumov, General Director, International Research Center for Adaptation and Restorative Medicine
Alexander Sergeev, President, Russian Academy of Sciences
Vyacheslav Fetisov, Goodwill Ambassador, The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); Chairman, All-Russian Society of Nature Conservation

Sergey Bugaev

Soviet and Russian Artist, Musician, Actor

Valery Gergiev

Artistic, General Director, State Academic Mariinsky Theatre

Valery Gergiev is Artistic and General Director of the Mariinsky Theatre, Chairman of the Organisational Committee of the International Tchaikovsky Competition and Honorary President of the Edinburgh International Festival. In 1997 following Sir Georg Solti’s death, Valery Gergiev took over the World Orchestra for Peace. He established and directs festivals including the Stars of the White Nights, the Gergiev Festival (the Netherlands) and the Moscow Easter Festival. At the Mariinsky Theatre Gergiev has overseen the emergence of a plethora of world-class singers.
Under his direction the theatre’s opera and ballet repertoires have become much richer and more diverse, now including a broad range of works from 18th to 20th century classics as well as music by contemporary composers. In 2006 Valery Gergiev’s efforts were rewarded with the construction of the Mariinsky Concert Hall, which has significantly expanded the repertoire possibilities available to the orchestra, while the opening of a 2000-seat Mariinsky-2 on 2 May 2013 turned the theatre into a unique theatrical complex, with capacities unseen around the globe. Established by Gergiev in 2009, the Mariinsky recording label has already released twenty discs that have won praise and acclaim from critics and audiences alike across the globe. The maestro works with the Metropolitan Opera, the Vienna, New York and Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestras and the Filarmonica della Scala. Gergiev’s numerous awards and prizes include prestigious government decorations from Russia, Germany, Italy, France, Japan, the Netherlands and Poland.

Alexey Maslov

Director, Institute of Asian and African Studies, Lomonosov Moscow State University

Alexander Medvedev

Deputy Chairman of the Management Board, Gazprom; General Director, Football Club Zenit

Alexander Medvedev was born on August 14, 1955 in Shakhtersk, Sakhalin Oblast.
Education
Alexander Medvedev graduated from Moscow Physics and Technology Institute majoring in Automated Control Systems.
He has a PhD in Economics.
Alexander Medvedev is a full-fledged member of the International Academy of Investment and Construction Economics.
Professional experience
1978–1989 Employee of the International Economic Relations Department of the Global Economy and International Relations Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences; later on – Senior Researcher, Acting Head of Sector, Academic Secretary of the Comprehensive Program for Sci-Tech Development of the USSR under the USSR Academy of Sciences and the State Committee for Science and Technology.
1989–1991 Director of Donau-Bank AG, Managing Director of Inter Trade Consult GmbH (Austria) branch.
1991–1996 Director of IMAG Investment Management & Advisory Group GmbH (Austria).
1997–1998 Vice President of Vostochnaya Neftyanaya Kompaniya (Eastern Oil Company).
1998–2002 Director of IMAG Investment Management & Advisory Group GmbH (Austria).
2002–2005 Member of the Management Committee of Gazprom, Director General of Gazexport.
2005–2008 Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee, Gazprom; Director General of Gazexport (since November 1, 2006 – Gazprom export).
2008–2014 Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee, Gazprom; Director General of Gazprom export; President – Chairman of the Kontinental Hockey League Executive Board.
2014 Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee, Gazprom; President – Chairman of the Kontinental Hockey League Executive Board.
Since 2014 Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee, Gazprom.

Julia Morozova

General Director, Creative Production

Mikhail Piotrovsky

General Director, The State Hermitage Museum

Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovski was born in Yerevan in 1944. His father, Boris Borisovich Piotrovski, an eminent archaeologist, was Director of The State Hermitage Museum from 1964 till 1990.
In 1967 graduated with honors from the Oriental Faculty of Leningrad State University, specializing in Arabic Studies. Underwent a study course at the Cairo University in 1965-1966. From 1967 to 1991 Mikhail Borisovich worked in the Leningrad branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies, where he obtained his doctorate in history. In 1991 was invited to join the Hermitage staff as the First Deputy Director. In July 1992 he was appointed Director of the Museum by a decree of the Prime Minister.
Dr. Piotrovski has taken part in archaeological excavations in the Caucasus, Central Asia and Yemen. He is an author of more than 250 works including catalogues of Arabic manuscripts, publications of Medieval monuments and ancient inscriptions, works on Islamic political history and Arabic culture, archeology of Arabia. Among them: series of articles devoted to the Muslim mythology in The Encyclopedia of World Mythology, series of articles about the prophet Muhammad and the monographs: The Legend of the Himyarite King As'ad al-Kamil (1977), Fundamentals of Arab-Islamic Art (1984), Southern Arabia in the Early Middle Ages (1985), Yemen before Islam and in the First Centuries of the Hijra (1987), Tales of the Koran (1991), Islam: An Encyclopaedia (a co-author, 1991). The Hermitage: Essays on the History of the Collection (a co-author, 1997); Earthy Art - Heavenly Beauty. Art of Islam (an editor, 2000); On Islamic Art (2001), The Great Collections of the Great Museum. The Hermitage (2003); The Hermitage in the Great Museums of the World series (2003); The Historical Legends of the Koran (2005), The Islamic Art. Between China and Europe (2008), The View from the Hermitage (2009, 2014), The Two Holy Sites Regained. Futuh al-Haramayn (2011), My Hermitage in Russian and English (2014, 2015), For Museums There Are No Taboos (2016).
Dr. Piotrovski is an author and a presenter of a TV series My Hermitage shown on the State Russian TV channel (250 series), My Hermitage – 250 (30 series), an author of the regular column The View from the Hermitage in the Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti newspaper (two books of these articles have been issued).
Dr. Piotrovski is Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, member of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences, member of the Russian Academy of Arts. A member of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for Culture and Art (in 2001 – 2011 was a Deputy Chairman of the Council) and the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for Science and Education.
Professor of the St. Petersburg State University, were he chairs two departments - “Museology” and “Ancient Orient History”, a Dean of Oriental faculty. Honorary Doctor of the Kazan State University, Honorary Doctor of the Saratov State University, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the European University in St. Petersburg.
Foreign member of the Armenian Academy of Sciences, an honorary member of the Academy of Sciences of Tatarstan. Corresponding member of the German Archaeological Institute, corresponding member of the Institut de France (Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres), and a foreign member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
President of the Union of Museums of Russia, editor-in-chief of The Christian Orient magazine, the chairman of the St. Petersburg branch of the Imperial Russian Orthodox Palestine Society. President of the Worldwide Club of St. Petersburgers, chairman of the board of the 1st State TV channel (2001 – 2005).
In 2011 elected to the State Duma, gave up his mandate.
Has been awarded the Netherlands Order of Orange-Nassau (1996), the Russian Order of Honor (1997), the French Order of the Légion d'Honneur (1998, 2004), the Swedish Order of the Northern Star (1999), the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (2000, 2004), the Order of Saint Mesrop (Armenian Apostle Church, 2000), the Order of Yaroslav the Wise (Ukraine, 2003), the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (2004), the Order of Service to the Fatherland (Russia, 2004, 2009), the Order of Honor Al-Fahr (the Council of Muftis of Russia, 2005), the Order of the Lion of Finland (2005); the Order of the Rising Sun (Japan, 2007); the Silver Medal of Amsterdam (2009); Woodrow Wilson Award, USA (2009); the Order of the Crown (Kingdom of Belgium, 2011); medal of Anatoliy Koni (Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, 2013), the Order of Alexander Nevsky (Russia, 2014); the Order of Merit for science and Arts (Austria, 2014), the Order of Service to the Republic of Tatarstan (2014), the Order of Francysk Skaryna (Belarus, 2014), the Order of St. John of Jerusalem (2015), the Order of Friendship (2016), the Medal of Argishti the First (Armenia, 2016).
In 2003 Mikhail Piotrovsky has been awarded the Presidential Prize in the Field of Art and Literature (Russia, 2003). In 2017 has been awarded the State Prize of Russia for his contribution to the preservation of national and world cultural heritage.
Winner of the public award "Sky Line".
In 1997 a minor planet was named “Piotrovski” by the Astronomical Union in joint honor of Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovski and his father Boris Borisovich Piotrovski.
In May, 2011 Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovski was awarded the title of Honored Citizen of Saint Petersburg.
Mikhail Borisovich is married, has two children.

Alexander Rasumov

General Director, International Research Center for Adaptation and Restorative Medicine

President of State-Owned Autonomous Medical Facility Moscow Research and Practical Centre for Medical Rehabilitation and Reconstructive and Sports Medicine of the Moscow Department of Healthcare, full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Medicine Alexander Rasumov was born in 1944 in Sheperovo, Chaussky District, Mogilev Region. From 1960 to 1970, he studied at the Chernigov Higher School for Air Force Pilots and Engineers and the Grodno Institute of Medicine and the Saratov Institute of Medicine. From 1970 to 1990, he worked at the Defence Ministry’s Institute of Aviation and Space Medicine. From 1990 to 1992: Director, Research and Production Centre Rabotosposobnost of the USSR Ministry of Oil and Gas Construction. From 1992 to 1998: CEO, Moscow Centre for Health Problems under the Government of Moscow. From 1998 to 2010: Director, Federal State-Owned Institution Russian Research Centre for Rehabilitative Medicine and Resorts of the Ministry of Healthcare. Holds the title of Distinguished Scientist of the Russian Federation, laureate of the Prize of the Government of the Russian Federation, President of the International University of Rehabilitative Medicine, of the National Resort Association and of the Russian Society of Rehabilitative Medical Doctors, member of the Board of the National Medical Chamber, member of the Russian-German Council, Professor Emeritus of Liverpool University, Russian representative in and member of the WHO European Committee for Global Health Policy, Chairman of the FEMTEC Medical Commission. Alexander Rasumov led the drafting and approval of the Concept for State Policy on Resort Development in the Russian Federation. He has been decorated with the Order of Service to Motherland in the Armed Forces 3rd Degree, the Order of Friendship, the Medal for Valiance in Combat, etc. Aleander Rasumovis a laureate of the Profession Life international prize, the Mikhail Lomonosov Prize in the field of Science and Education and the Russian Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development Russia’s Best Doctor: The Mission prize, recipient of a diploma of the N.A. Semashko Russian Academy of Medical Sciences prize for the best paper on the theory and history of healthcare.

Alexander Sergeev

President, Russian Academy of Sciences

Physicist
Academician
Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences
Foreign Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus
Member of the Department of Physical Sciences (physics and astronomy) RAS, member of the RAS Space Council
Deputy Chairman of the Presidential Council for Science and Education
Member of the Scientific Coordination Council of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research. Member of the Editorial Board of the journals "Successes of Physical Sciences" and "Proceedings of Universities - Radiophysics"
Research interests and achievements:
plasma physics, femtosecond optics, theory of nonlinear wave phenomena, biophotonics. Fundamental works on the theory of nonlinear interaction of ultrashort optical fields with matter, the study of new physical phenomena in femtosecond optics and physics of ultrastrong fields, the creation of unique sources of ultrashort pulse laser radiation. Under his leadership, the Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences established a modern Centre for Femtosecond Optics, including the most powerful in Russia, and one of the most powerful in the world, petawatt laser complexes based on parametric amplification of light, developed new ways of using femtosecond radiation for materials processing and medicine. Academician Sergeev is the author of the project of creating the world's most powerful subexawatt laser XCELS, which is included by the Russian Government among 6 Megascience-class projects to be implemented in the current decade. Academician Sergeev heads an interdepartmental team of physical and medical scientists who have develop physical principles and implement in clinical conditions methods of optical tomography of biological tissues, including optical coherence tomography, optical diffusion tomography, diffusion fluorescence tomography, ultramicroscopy.
Professional experience:
1972-1977 Attended Gorky State University, Department of Radiophysics
1977 began working at Applied Physics Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union (currently - Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences)
1982 Candidate of Sciences (PhD) in Plasma Physics
1991 Head of Laboratory, Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences
1994 Head of Section, Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences
2000 Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Laser Physics
2003 Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences
2012 Deputy Director for Science, Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences
2015-2017 Director, Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences
2016 elected Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences
2017 elected President of the Russian Academy of Sciences
2017 appointed Deputy Chairman, Presidential Council for Science and Education
Awards and publications:
Author and co-author of over 380 scientific works.
1999 State Prize in Science and Technology
2006 Order of Honour of the Russian Federation
2012 Russian Federation Government Prize in Science and Technology
2016 International Gruber Prize for Cosmology for work within the international project LIGO on detection of gravitational waves
2018 Order of Academic Palms, France

Vyacheslav Fetisov

Deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation; Goodwill Ambassador, The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); Chairman, All-Russian Society of Nature Conservation

Viacheslav Alexandrovich “Slava” Fetisov is a retired professional ice hockey defenseman and coach who earned two Stanley Cups during his time as a player and one as coach with the NHL. He also earned two Olympic gold medals, one silver and one bronze during his hockey career as both a player for the Soviet national team and as manager for the Russian national team. Slava is a currently an acting member of the State Duma of Russia—one of the two bodies that make up the Russian Federal Assembly. After the 2002 Winter Olympics, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered him the position as Minister of Sport, a post he held until 2008. Fetisov has become passionate about polar conservation and was a formidable advocate on behalf of the Ross Sea within Russia with a commitment to work for long-term protections through a network of marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean. In 2018 he was appointed UN Environment Patron for Polar Regions.

Front row participants
Victoria Badtieva, Head of Branch #1, Moscow Centre for Research and Practice in Medical Rehabilitation, Restorative and Sports Medicine
Roman Karmanov, Chief Executive Officer, Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives
Igor Kogan, Director, Scientific Research Institute of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductology named after D.O. Otta
Natalia Malinova, Commercial Director, VTB Arena; General Director, Exhibition Center Dynamo Museum
Ruslan Novikov, General Director, Argumenty I Facty
Olga Pilipenko, Member of the Committee State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Education and Science

Victoria Badtieva

Head of Branch #1, Moscow Centre for Research and Practice in Medical Rehabilitation, Restorative and Sports Medicine

Professor Victoria Badtieva is a Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor of Sechenov University, Chair of the Sports Medicine Clinic (Moscow), a specialist in sports cardiology and medical rehabilitation. Recent studies are related to the identification of early markers of overtraining syndrome, the identification of criteria for the differential diagnosis of "athletic heart", the introduction of preliminary screening for cardiovascular diseases with the risk of sudden death among athletes, with the development of programs to increase the level of physical activity and sports participation in Russia, the development of innovative rehabilitation technologies in sport. She published more than 350 publications, wrote and edited the National Medical Rehabilitation Manual, the National Physical and Rehabilitation Therapy, the Sports Cardiology Manual (Russia). During the Olympic Games in Sochi (2014) she was the head of the main clinic in the Olympic Village, during the FIFA World Cup 2018 (Russia) she headed the medical service in Moscow and at the Luzhniki stadium. Currently, she is a member of the Scientific Commission of the International Federation of Sports Medicine (FIMS), Chairman of the Committee of TUE RUSADA (Russian Anti-Doping Agency), Vice-President of the Russian Federation of Sports Medicine (RASMIRBI), Vice-President of the Russian National Society of Preventive Cardiology.

Roman Karmanov

Chief Executive Officer, Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives

Educational Background:
In 2000 graduated from Far Eastern National University with a degree in Philosophy.
In 2007 completed the MBA Programme “European Management” at the RANEPA Higher School of Corporate Governance.
In 2021 earned a Master’s degree in Global Public Policy at the RANEPA
Professional Background:
First Deputy Director General Komsomolskaya Pravda Media Group;
Director General Komsomolskaya Pravda Radio;
Since June 2021 Director General Presidential Grants on Cultural Initiatives Foundation.
Launched and kept on track “Volunteer” multimedia project that helped to release over 130 broadcasting programs promoting volunteers’ and philanthropists’ work and experience;
Carried out “Open NGO” Project focused on helping Third Sector to create and promote knowledge on charity, nonprofit and educational projects.
Awards
Russia’s Media Manager award winner (twice)
Winner of the competition «Leaders of Russia. Politics»
Ranked in the TOP1000 Russia’s Managers Rating

Igor Kogan

Director, Scientific Research Institute of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductology named after D.O. Otta

Ruslan Novikov

General Director, Argumenty I Facty

Born February 5, 1975, in Moscow
In 1997 graduated from the faculty of law of Lomonosov Moscow State University.
Ph.D. in Economics, MBA
Since 1997 has worked in banking, manufacturing, construction, trade and investment companies holding executive positions.
Has broad experience in company formation, leading companies to the top positions in the market, crisis management.
Entered the board of directors of "Argumenty i Fakty" in April 2014.
Was appointed as CEO of "Argumenty i Fakty" publishing house in December 2014.
Board member of GIPP - Guild of Press Publishers.
In 2016 was proclaimed laureate of the "Best Media manager of Russia 2016" National Award in Press nomination and Federal Press category.

Olga Pilipenko

Member of the Committee State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Education and Science