The News
CERN, the European particle-physics collaboration that operates the Large Hadron Collider, will expel hundreds of Russian-affiliated scientists from its laboratories.
The Geneva-based organization decided to cut ties with Moscow after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, ending nearly 60 years of collaboration, and the agreements are now lapsing. Russia has never been a full member but worked closely on nuclear physics.
Scientists tied to Belarusian institutions already saw their contracts end in July, and any Russian-linked scientists will lose access, as well as residency permits, in December.
CERN will, however, maintain links with the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, an intergovernmental center near Moscow, a decision that is controversial for some researchers.
SIGNALS
Russia’s invasion has suffocated scientific collaboration
Many Western governments asked their research institutions to cut ties with their Russian counterparts after the invasion of Ukraine, reducing scientific collaboration between Moscow and the West. Some Russian scientists have warned that cutting them out will only strengthen Vladimir Putin’s hand: He will use it “as an argument to convince the Russian people that the countries around him are enemies,” a physicist told SwissInfo. It’s not just the West that has pulled back: The Kremlin has also become more suspicious of academic projects with foreign researchers, and many Russian researchers are fearful of the consequences of international collaboration, the trade publication Science Business reported.
China becomes Russia’s biggest science partner
China is now Russia’s biggest scientific collaborator, overtaking Germany and the US last year in terms of joint research articles, Science Business reported. “The ties with China aren’t actually growing that much, it is just the ties with the west that are shrinking,” a Russian researcher told the news outlet. Moscow is also providing China with sensitive military technology in exchange for its support for Russia’s war machine, US officials warned last week. “The capabilities that Russia is providing is support in areas where previously they had been frankly reluctant to engage directly with China,” a top US State Department official told reporters, saying this included new technologies for submarines and missiles.
Geopolitical rivalry threatens US-China scientific cooperation
Geopolitical tensions are also complicating research cooperation between the US and China. A key science pact between the two superpowers lapsed in late August, although a US State Department spokesperson told Semafor that the two “remain in communication” about the agreement, which dates back to the start of US-China diplomatic ties in 1979. While the deal is largely symbolic, it has become a bellwether for scientific cooperation between the countries. Experts suspect Washington may not have the appetite to sign an agreement with Beijing before the US presidential election, as Democrats do not want to come across as soft on China.