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Modern research universities are a crucial element of the free academic inquiry in any country. This paper discusses the evolution of research universities in Russia. We discuss Soviet academic tradition, the present state of research universities, and the plans to build new research universities. We focus on the structure and incentives in public and private research universities and describe the trade-offs that these universities face. We also discuss specific threats to the free academic inquiry in public and private research universities. While public universities have to cope with rigid regulation and constraints on research agenda imposed by the government, the private universities face the tyranny of the market and commercialization. We also consider specific examples of threats to academic freedom as well as those of abuse of academic freedom by Russian academics. We conclude that while Russia has a need and resources for building internationally competitive research universities, their success will be slowed down by limited political freedoms and by inefficient and corrupt bureaucracy.
