At least 90 out of 500 scientists associated with the Russian Federation will continue to work with CERN

About 90 scientists out of 500 who worked in Russian institutes with the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) will continue to collaborate with this center, having changed scientific establishments. This was reported by RIA Novosti on Friday with reference to the statement of the official representative of CERN, Arnaud Marsolier. In March, Marsolie announced the suspension of cooperation with specialists associated with Russian scientific institutions.

According to Marsolie, to date, about 90 specialists have already found new jobs in foreign institutes, and another 20 are in the process of searching. The representative of CERN clarified that the decision to suspend cooperation concerns not only Russian citizens, but also foreign scientists.

“In fact, the return of these people, trained by us, raised by us, ideologically and scientifically, is a gift for us,” Mikhail Kovalchuk, head of the Kurchatov Institute National Research Center, said in an interview with TASS.

In June, it became known that, despite the European center’s condemnation of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, CERN will maintain cooperation with the Russian Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna (JINR). The CERN Council voted against ending cooperation with JINR, introducing only restrictions such as a ban on meetings and new projects. Nevertheless, about 270 scientists from JINR will continue to work at CERN.

Ukrainian physicists strongly opposed this cooperation, emphasizing JINR’s connection with the Russian government, which provides more than 80% of the institute’s funding, Nature notes.

• CERN – the world’s largest high-energy physics laboratory – was established in 1953. The headquarters of the organization is located in Switzerland.
• In March 2022, CERN suspended observer status for Russia because of the war. Russia stopped paying contributions to the organization’s budget, could not vote in the CERN council. Moscow could have participated in research projects both financially and with equipment, but it did not.
• On March 27 last year, CERN decided to list Russian and Belarusian scientists without affiliation with the institutes of both countries.
• The director of the Kurchatov Institute is a friend of President Vladimir Putin. Last fall, Mikhail Kovalchuk proposed to test nuclear weapons on Novaya Zemlya, where explosions were carried out in Soviet times.