'Backdoor' access: Russian weapons-linked lab still active at CERN despite ban

By Robert Stanley | 2025-03-12

Despite being barred from CERN, the world's leading nuclear research facility, some Russian scientists may still have access to its cutting-edge technology -- raising concerns that Moscow could exploit these advancements for military purposes.

Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russian scientists and research institutions were expelled from numerous international collaborations, including the European Center for Nuclear Research (known as CERN for its French acronym), which officially ended its cooperation agreements with Russian and Belarusian institutes in November 2023.

However, Russia's Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR), a facility with ties to a weapon manufacturer, has maintained access through an independent agreement with CERN.

'Fueling Russia's war machine'

Ukrainian nuclear researcher Borys Grynyov, who represents Ukraine on CERN's governing council, has been vocal about the risks.

"Allowing JINR-affiliated scientists to be part of CERN projects is a big mistake," he told Nature last September.

JINR, a cornerstone of Russia's scientific community, has a history of high-profile research.

It has contributed to the discovery of four elements on the periodic table -- dubnium, moscovium, flerovium and oganesson -- and continues to develop advanced subatomic particle detection technology.

Last June, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited JINR and held a meeting of a top Russian scientific council there.

However, JINR's collaboration with CERN extends beyond pure science, Grynyov warned.

"Continuing collaboration of CERN with the JINR during the ongoing war would allow the institutions of the Russian Federation, which partake in military programs, to benefit from continued access to the latest technological developments and to training of personnel in cutting-edge techniques at CERN, further fueling Russia's war machine," Grynyov told The Times of London last June.

Because "they [JINR] haven't stopped cooperating with CERN, they receive access to modern technologies and engineering solutions," Grynyov told Global Watch.

Link to arms factory

Grynyov's concerns went unaddressed.

While hundreds of Russian scientists were forced to stop work at CERN after the 2023 ban, at least 90 researchers circumvented the restriction by reaffiliating with institutes in other countries, Science magazine reported in January 2024.

Notably, JINR was not included in the ban, as it operates under a consortium of nations, including Kremlin allies Hungary and North Korea. It thus qualifies ostensibly as an international organization.

JINR has been working closely with Raduga Design Bureau and its Dubna Machine-Building Plant, which produces warplanes and missiles used against Ukraine, according to VoxUkraine, an independent analysis center.

JINR and Raduga jointly created the Dubna Special Economic Zone and Dubna State University, where JINR scientists and engineers train specialists.

In 2023, the university launched a program to train 30 engineers a year for a plant in the Dubna "science city" complex that makes reconnaissance and strike drones, and is also training engineers for Iran, VoxUkraine reported.

JINR designed a special fuel cell that lets drones take off with payloads of up to 750kg, giving them extended flight time and allowing fast refueling, the report said, citing published Russian scientific papers.

JINR also has several joint venture operations with Russia's Federal Security Service, the FSB, VoxUkraine added.

North Korea, Iran connections

Out of approximately 180 Russian institutes affiliated with JINR, at least 77 are under sanctions for supporting the war and participating in military programs, VoxUkraine said.

The European Union has imposed sanctions on 15 such institutions, the United States on 33, Switzerland on 19, the United Kingdom on 6 and Ukraine on 69.

There may be security implications that extend beyond the Russia-Ukraine war, observers say.

JINR's connections to North Korea and Iran, formalized through defense treaties with Moscow in 2024 and 2025, raise concerns about nuclear research proliferation.

The institute's 2025 Topical Plan lists collaborations with at least five Iranian organizations, including one with known ties to Iran's nuclear program.

JINR claims co-operation with almost 1,000 scientific institutions outside Russia in more than 70 countries.

International access is important because technological development is "not Russia's strong suit," Grynyov pointed out.

"Having used scientific espionage before to obtain new technologies (as in the case of the Manhattan Project), Russia now does so through participation in international research projects," he wrote in an article published December 13 on Ukrainian news site zn.ua.

"CERN is the mecca of international physics and international technology," Grynyov told The Times of London. "In being members of the CERN, this of course provides a backdoor through which Russian spies are able to access the very latest advances in science."

Another Ukrainian physicist, Yurii Stephanenko, expressed his own misgivings to Global Watch.

CERN's continued cooperation with JINR "allows them [Russians] to keep up better with ideas and modern trends," he said. "=If they [Russians] were 'cancelled' or blocked for several years, they would lack certain access to certain technologies and wouldn't be able to transfer these technologies."