The West has been rigging global university ratings, draining away talents from Asian and African countries and hindering the development of educational systems in these countries, Sergey Naryshkin, the director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), said in an address to participants of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) on Sunday.

"Neocolonial approaches to education and science undoubtedly remain a serious challenge. While compiling ratings of leading universities in the world, [Western countries] show lack of objectivity, which sometimes goes as far as to become an obvious foul play. They have been hindering the development of national educational systems. They have been fraudulently luring talented youths from Asian and African countries, turning many non-Western societies into involuntary donors of intellectual capital," he said.