On 6 – 7 April, President of the Russian Federation Dmitry A. Medvedev paid an official visit to the Slovak Republic. JINR Director A.N. Sissakian was one of the representatives of the delegation. Here is what he said to our correspondent Natalia Teryaeva.

Visit of the Russian President to Slovakia took place during celebration of the 65th anniversary of liberation of Bratislava by the Soviet Army. In his speeches made in Bratislava, president Medvedev highlighted for several times that the victory in the II World War was our common achievement, which determined the course of the world history and fate of our nations. Many events related to this historic date were held during the visit. The invitation to join the Russian delegation was determined by the fact that the need to complete construction of the Cyclotron Center in the Slovak Republic was a part of the negotiation agenda. The Cyclotron and a part of its equipment are manufactured at JINR, which is responsible for scientific management of the center. This work, carried out mainly at the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions, was completed over three years ago, but construction of the complex was suspended by the Slovak party due to the economic crisis. During the discussion, presidents D. Medvedev and I. Gašparovič, having common interests in mind, came to the conclusion that it was necessary to complete construction as soon as possible. The centre will become a base for joint scientific and innovative projects (production of isotopes, proton therapy of the eye, physical and metrological studies, production of nuclear filters, etc.).

Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation S. Shmatko (co-chairman of intergovernmental commission) and Slovak Minister of Economy L. Jagnatek signed a Memorandum of Understanding regarding establishment of the Cyclotron Centre in the Slovak Republic. JINR will take part in assembly and setup of the equipment as well as in training of specialists for the centre, which will certainly be useful for development of cooperation between JINR and Slovak scientific, innovative and educational organizations. President Medvedev highlighted that Russia and Slovakia are strategic partners.

When presenting members of official delegations to the presidents of Russia and Slovakia, I had the opportunity to inform them about the discovery of element 117 of the periodic table at JINR (our general scientific center). During Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to Dubna in 2008, he showed interest in this work. Discovery was made at FLNR accelerator of JINR with active participation of our American colleagues. D. Medvedev asked me to pass on congratulations to scientists of Dubna. Unexpectedly, the following day, after the negotiations and before the press conference, D. Medvedev addressed me, saying: “Physicists, well done: I am not disappointed. This morning I searched for news online and received information that I had already learned from you. Congratulations again!”. As you know, on 7 – 8 April, the mass media enthusiastically reacted to the discovery of our scientists. President Medvedev then inquired about current innovative projects. I had an opportunity to brief the president on the state of affairs at JINR, developments in the use of accelerators and detectors for solving a number of applied problems, including combating terrorism (“Dvin”, “Yantar” and others). President noted that this topic was more relevant today than ever before.

Along with heads of several departments and regions and diplomats, Russian delegation included a number of leaders of the innovation block, namely JSC TVEL president Yu. Olenin, and others. This shows the desire to develop cooperation in the fields of innovation, including nuclear physics technologies.