It is a great honour and pleasure for me to talk from this
tribune. It is not only an opportunity to thank Mr. Soros, to whom
we are very grateful, but also it is an opportunity to speak about
my impressions of the work of the ISSEP and related projects.

        I am the third year post-graduate student at the Moscow State
University, and my specialization is theoretical astrophyscis. Twice
I applicated to the Soros grants and twice I was selected. I also
participated in several research grants in our Institute and can 
compair the phylosophie of different programms. A great advantage 
of the Soros programs is the accesibility of the information about the
criterions of the competition.

        Another special feature of the programm is the formation
of a very specific community of Soros laureates. 
And we have to thank Mr. Soros for the foundation of this community.
I know a lot of people, who recieved Soros grants: 
my friends in the University, my scientific
adviser, professors and associated professors, with whom I have
professional contacts, teachers at the high-school where I work,
pupils at our high-school (some of my pupils are now studying in the
Moscow State University, and I hope they will join the Soros community). 
This year I was lucky to present a Soros lecture on the
reginal conference in Tyumen in the frame of the programm "Professional
contacts". At this conference once again I had an opportunity to 
feel the special atmosphere of colloboration between Soros laureates.

        When people want to make something new it is a great thing
to colloborate, to communicate with other people. 
Very often, unfortunately, professors and teachers are on different 
sides of the barricades, but in Tyumen it was very clear, that we
have general values. It was a pleasant atmosphere of free relations
between professionals in closely related fields.
I think, that  the ideas of the program Professional Contacts 
and the Educational Journal are very useful for such a communication. 

Of course, there are no such things that can't be improved. 
It is not a usial thing
at all, when these lectures are given by post-gradute students, but the
reaction of the teachers was very positive. They made a suggestion
to the Programm to give an opportunity for post-graduate students to
take part in these lectures. 
I think, that a lot of students will be glad to give such lectures
at the school where they studied. Students from the whole country
are studying in Moscow, but they can bring their knowledge to their
native towns with such a lectures, when they visit them.
Post-graduates also can submit their articles to the Educational
Journal (maybe to it's electronic edition, which was proposed,
if the volume of the paper edition is limited). Students also can
start WWW-project to present the results of their research in Internet.  
So, I think, that students and post-graduate students can do more
for the Programm than they do now. 

        When people take part in a great program, they have
to believe in the possibility of realization of their ideas.
Very few of us can do something without the feeling
that it can be done and done good. So, I want to say several words
on the possibility of building  the Open society in Russia.

        I hope, that we understand, that the idea is not just to
spend some money for education and science here in Russia, but to 
start a process, that will be going for a long time with the main aim
to build a society with a different kind of mentalitet, different
kind of relations. For me it was important to answer to myself
if it is possible.

        Can we call such an attempt reasonable? For me the first answer
was: it is very good, but impossible. We can hardly find a period in the
history of Russia, when there was a society with a glance of openness.
Opposite examples are numerous. But if we look at the history of the
Russian philosophy, for example, we can find bright examples of
the ideas, that are closely related, as I think, with the ideas of the
Open society.
I found several examples in the books of Russian philosophers.
But here I mention  one of them -- the ideas
of Nikolai Berdajev, his "philosophy of freedom".
Freedom is a necessary condition for a society to be called "Open".
Only a free person can realise the value of interaction, of the ideas
of other persons. Only a free man can create something. Creation
is the main task of the humankind, of every man. 
When a person is not opened to the world,
to other people, to new ideas, he can't create something new,
he can only reproduce old things. 

        The ideas of free creation live in Russia, and I hope we
can try to build an Open society, the society without ksenophobia,
without fear of new ideas, without fear of the future.