Individual contacts with scientists from the then Soviet Union started in 1964 and the scientific cooperation with CERN is based on various Agreements and Protocols with the first one signed in 1967.

The Russian Federation was granted Observer status to the CERN Council in 1991 before it was suspended in March 2022. The 1996 Protocol on the participation in the LHC project defined the first Russian contributions to the LHC accelerator. The 2002 Extension to this Agreement brought an additional contribution to the LHC accelerator. A new International Cooperation Agreement (ICA) with the Russian Federation entered into force on 1 December 2019.

In 2006, the Russian Federation signed the Memoranda of Understanding for the Maintenance and Operation for the four large LHC experiments, and the Russian institutes participated in the LHC physics programme. The Russian Federation also participated in the WLCG as a federation of several centres at the Tier-2 level (RuTier-2), supporting all four of the large LHC experiments.

The Russian Federation also participated in the CERN accelerator programmes CLIC/CTF3 and Linac4, as well as contributing to the experiments  LHCf, AEGIS, ASACUSA, CAST, CLOUD, COMPASS, DIRAC, NA61, NA62, NA63, n_TOF and OPERA.

At its Session in December 2023, the CERN Council decided to terminate the ICA between CERN and the Russian Federation, together with all related protocols and addenda, with effect from 30 November 2024. At the same meeting, the CERN Council decided to terminate all other agreements and experiment Memoranda of Understanding allowing the participation of the Russian Federation and its national institutes in the CERN scientific programme, with effect from 30 November 2024. Relations between CERN and institutions from the Russian Federation ceased as of that date. The CERN Council’s resolutions concerning the Russian Federation following the invasion of Ukraine can be found here.