MOSCOW, August 17 (RIA Novosti) - President Vladimir Putin has instructed the Education Ministry and the Russian Academy of Sciences to create favorable conditions for the development of research and education.

At a meeting with Yuri Osipov, the head of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Education and Science Minister Andrei Fursenko, the president said the most important thing was to ensure that young researchers stay in science. "It is important to decide what needs to be done to increase the [budget] funding of these areas, and, in particular, raise wages."

He also said the Academy of Sciences and the Education and Science Ministry had a common approach to the issue at hand and shared the understanding that science had to be treated with care.