PUTIN PROMISES BACKING FOR SCIENCE

At Friday press briefing in the major Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russian president Vladimir Putin said that supporting science is one of the major directions of the Federal Centre’s activity. He also added that there were two federal programs in this sphere and that the state budget for 2001 provided for a little rise in the spendings for science. The President stressed that it iswas important for the state to support the fundamental science, RIA-Novosti reports.