CERN to cut research ties with Russia and Belarus
The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), located on the French-Swiss border near Geneva, has decidedExternal link to end all cooperation agreements with Russia and Belarus when they expire in 2024 over their roles in the war in Ukraine.
The CERN Council communicated its decision on Friday after previously suspending ties with Russia and Belarus in March.
At a meeting on Thursday, the Council “recalled that the core values of the organisation have always been based upon scientific collaboration across borders as a driver for peace and stressed that the aggression of one country against another runs counter to these values,” it stated.
CERN said it will not renew existing agreements with Belarus and Russia that are due to expire in June and December 2024 respectively.
“However, the situation will continue to be monitored carefully and the Council stands ready to take any further decision in the light of developments in Ukraine.”
CERN’s cooperation agreements run for five years and are automatically renewed unless one of the parties indicates otherwise.
According to the Reuters news agency, nearly 7% of CERN’s 18,000 researchers from around the world were linked to Russian institutions before the Ukraine war broke out on February 24.
CERN’s 27-kilometre Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest particle accelerator that smashes protons to find clues about the origins of the universe, was re-started in April after two years of maintenance work.
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