Yevgeny Olegovich Adamov (, born 28 April 1939) is a Soviet and Russian nuclear engineer and politician. He was the director of the N. A. Dollezhal Research and Development Institute of Power Engineering (NIKIET) from 1986 to 1998. He served as the Minister for Atomic Energy of Russia from 1998 to 2001, member of the

Security Council of Russia The Security Council of the Russian Federation ( SCRF or Sovbez; ) is a constitutional consultative body of the Russian president that supports the president's decision-making on national security affairs and matters of strategic interest. Comp ...

from 1998 to 2000, and adviser to the

Prime Minister of Russia The prime minister of the Russian Federation, also domestically stylized as the chairman of the government of the Russian Federation and widely recognized as the prime minister, is the head of government of Russia and the second highest ranking ...

from 2002 to 2004. In 2008 he was sentenced to five and a half years in prison for

abuse of office Abuse is the act of improper usage or treatment of a person or thing, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices, ...

and

fraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...

, which was reduced to four years of probation on appeal.

Biography

Yevgeny Adamov was born on 28 April 1939 in Moscow. After graduating in 1962 from the

Moscow Aviation Institute Moscow Aviation Institute () is an engineering research university in Moscow, Russia. It is designated a National Research University. Since its inception the institute has been spearheading advances in aerospace technology both within Russia a ...

with a major in mechanical engineering, he joined the I. V. Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy and worked there until 1986. From 1986 to 1998 Adamov directed NIKIET, a Russian state nuclear research and design institute. In 2005 he was arrested in

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

, Switzerland, on fraud charges. The arrest was made at the request of the United States. The United States accused Adamov of diverting up to US$9 million which the

United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and energy production, the research and development of nuclear power, the military's nuclear w ...

gave Russia to help improve security at its nuclear facilities.

Extradition In an extradition, one Jurisdiction (area), jurisdiction delivers a person Suspect, accused or Conviction, convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, into the custody of the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforc ...

requests were filed first by the United States and then by Russia, which has protested about the move by the United States. Adamov was finally extradited to Russia. The move was widely covered as a successful ploy by the Russian government to prevent Adamov from telling US authorities state secrets that he knew. In 2008 Adamov was convicted in Russia of abuse of office and defrauding the Russian government of some $31 million in US aid funds intended for security upgrades for aging

nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a Nuclear fission, fission nuclear chain reaction. They are used for Nuclear power, commercial electricity, nuclear marine propulsion, marine propulsion, Weapons-grade plutonium, weapons ...

s. On 20 February 2008 he was convicted of fraud and misuse of power by the Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow and sentenced to 5.5 years of imprisonment. He was released from jail when his sentence was suspended by a higher-level court on 17 April 2008.

Awards and decorations

Order of the Badge of Honour The Order of the Badge of Honour () was a civilian award of the Soviet Union. It was established on 25 November 1935, and was conferred on citizens of the USSR for outstanding achievements in sports, production, scientific research and socia ...

(1982) * Honoured Worker of Science and Technology of the Russian Federation (11 October 1995) *

Medal "In Commemoration of the 850th Anniversary of Moscow" The Medal "In Commemoration of the 850th Anniversary of Moscow" () is a commemorative medal of the Russian Federation created to denote the 850th anniversary of the city of Moscow. It was established on 26 February 1997 by Presidential Decree � ...

* Order of Tomsk Glory (6 May 2022) *

State Prize of the Russian Federation The State Prize of the Russian Federation, officially translated in Russia as Russian Federation National Award, is a state honorary prize established in 1992 following the breakup of the Soviet Union. In 2004 the rules for selection of laureates ...

in science and technology for 2023 (10 June 2024)

References

External links

Investigation by ''Novaya Gazeta''
1939 births Living people 20th-century Russian engineers 20th-century Russian politicians 21st-century Russian engineers 21st-century Russian politicians Chernobyl liquidators Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Engineers from Moscow Government ministers of Russia Moscow Aviation Institute alumni Nuclear engineers People extradited from Switzerland People extradited to Russia Politicians from Moscow Rosatom Russian fraudsters Soviet engineers State Prize of the Russian Federation laureates {{Russia-politician-stub