SAMARA, March 19./TASS/. A number of Russian researchers who will be dismissed in November by decision of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) from collaborative CERN projects will be engaged by Russia’s National Center for Physics and Mathematics (NCFM) on a project to create a multifunctional accelerator complex with a Compton radiation source, NCFM Scientific Director Alexander Sergeyev told TASS.

Earlier, CERN announced that it would suspend cooperation with some 500 employees with links to Russia in November 2024.

"We [at the NCFM] have very interesting projects. One of them is a project of the really highest level, a mega science project [involving] the construction of a Compton radiation source. The partnership that has been created around the Russian project brings together dozens of people who, among other things, cooperate with CERN. I can't say that this is a replacement and all those cooperating with CERN will work with the NCFM, but a significant portion of [a group of] very strong professionals will work to build a unique mega science facility in Russia," said Sergeyev, an academic at the Russian Academy of Sciences.

According to him, CERN’s decision to end cooperation with Russian scientists has not come as a completely unexpected move, as it has been discussed for several years. "I should say that our colleagues, including among the CERN leadership resisted this decision as best they could, since this is powerful cooperation [involving] hundreds of people working on CERN’s scientific program. And the contribution from Russian science to CERN is also large. Nonetheless, the pressure that comes from above is making us gradually cede ground, so to speak," Sergeyev elaborated.

He also expressed hope that cooperation between the scientists employed at CERN would continue in various formats. "We hope that the main thing is the ties between scientists, which should be preserved. There are many different forms of cooperation, not necessarily some formal agreements and affiliations that the European Union recognizes," the academic told TASS.