The leadership of the Karelian Scientific Center called information about scientists not receiving incentive payments "false information." 

The leadership of the Karelian Scientific Centre after two months appeals A group of young scientists who complained about non-payment of incentive payments called their information "inaccurate." Local media reported a 20-30% salary increase for research staff in 2025 and claimed that "colossal work" had been done. 

"The 20-30% increase in base salaries was a recommendation from the Ministry of Education and Science and is not related to incentive payments. Therefore, the salary of a junior research fellow became slightly higher than the minimum wage. The Institute of Forestry of the Karelian Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences had been paying incentive payments quarterly for several years, so the scientists had planned to receive them in the first quarter of this year as well. However, the money was not paid," рассказал "Regional Aspect" by Roman Ignatenko, PhD in Biology, Senior Researcher at the Laboratory of Forest Biotechnology, Institute of Forestry, Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

He added that it was only after the publicity that it was possible to achieve Payments for the first quarter of 2025. According to Roman Ignatenko, the situation at KarRC is such that employees don't know how much they'll receive or when, contrary to the law. 

"Currently, the Petrozavodsk Prosecutor's Office is conducting an investigation into the Karelian Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences (KRC RAS) based on media publications. The Director General of the Karelian Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences is in charge of all financial matters. Funding for the institutes increased by 15% compared to last year, despite the Russian Ministry of Education and Science increasing the subsidy for fulfilling the state contract by 30%. Acting Director General Olga Bakhmet has also repeatedly mentioned that there is a reserve fund of 100 million rubles. Therefore, we don't understand why there isn't enough money for incentive payments to research staff," concluded Roman Ignatenko.