Evgeny Semenov, Director of the Russian Institute for Economics, Policy and Law in Science and Technology (RIEPLST), PhD in Philosophy, Professor

The main objective of the article is the critical revision of conceptual basis of the S&T policy in Russia for the last 15 years. Considering the Russian S&T policy as a system the author analyses such fundamental elements of this system as numerous programmes and conceptual documents, state bodies responsible for governing and planning in S&T, legislation in S&T and changes in practice of state funding of science. The author distinguish three main periods in post-soviet S&T policy: the first reform period (from the end of 1991 to June/July 1996); the stagnation period (from the mid of 1996 to Spring 2004) and the second reform period (from Spring 2004 till present). The main principles of the first reform were the construction of S&T policy on the basis of new principles such as openness, democracy, targeted support of talented researchers and researches groups, equal accessibility of resources for researchers. The second reform focuses on forming the national innovation system and considers the science as a key element of this system. But the realization of current reform is difficult due to the insuccessive and insufficiently considered policy inherited from stagnation period.