Leading Russian scientist says Chinese have stopped cooperating after Ukraine invasion
- The head of the Russian Academy of Sciences told an international conference that Chinese researchers have ‘pressed pause’ with no explanation
- The two countries have been working to expand joint research and some Chinese scientists say they have not received any instructions to stop collaborating
A leading Russian scientist has made a rare criticism of China, saying that cooperation between the two countries has been withheld by their Chinese counterparts “without explanation”.
But “if we talk about the southern or eastern directions, unfortunately, I can say directly that our Chinese scientific colleagues have also pressed pause”, Sergeev told an international conference at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations on Thursday, according to Russian news agency Tass.
“Over the past month we have not been able to enter into serious discussions, despite the fact that we had excellent cooperation along with regular communication,” he added.
According to the latest data from the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, China and Russia have set up more than 1,000 joint research and exchange programmes in the past year as their strategic partnership deepened in the face of mounting pressure from the West.