Top Researcher Suspended From Spanish University for Work With Russian, Saudi Colleagues

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Spanish flag - Sputnik International, 1920, 04.04.2023
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One of the world’s most prolific scientists has been suspended without pay for 13 years over his affiliations with Russian and Saudi Arabian research institutions, according to Spanish media.
On Sunday, Spain’s El Pais reported that Rafael Luque, who’s managed the incredible feat of publishing 58 studies so far this year at an average of one per 37 hours, was officially sanctioned by the University of Córdoba in Spain.
The university has justified its 13-year sentence for Luque’s full-time gig at the Spanish institution by pointing to the researcher’s work for the King Saud University in Riyadh and the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia in Moscow.
According to El Pais, "institutions all over the world compete to hire scientists like Luque, who can move a center up hundreds of positions in international academic rankings such as the influential Shanghai ranking, thusly attracting more students and more funding."
The researcher – who was highlighted by the German Ministry of Research in 2011 and has racked up awards from institutions including the prestigious UK Royal Society of Chemistry – didn’t hold back when asked for comment.
"Without me, the University of Córdoba is going to drop 300 places [in the Shanghai ranking]," the Spanish outlet quoted Luque as saying.
The university’s functionaries have "shot themselves in the foot,” the renowned scientist explained.
But not every interaction between scientists has been tainted by the political tensions that now characterize so much of the public conversation between official voices in Washington and Moscow.
As Sputnik News reported earlier this week, researchers at NASA have no intentions of ceasing their cooperation with their Russian counterparts and plan to continue cooperation with Roscosmos in the "long-term."
 In this photo provided by NASA, backdropped against clouds over Earth, the International Space Station is seen from Space Shuttle Discovery as the two orbital spacecraft accomplish their relative separation on March 7, 2011 - Sputnik International, 1920, 29.03.2023
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"The mission control here in Houston works on a daily basis with the Mission Control in Moscow," explained the astronaut, who noted he’d "loved [his] time training with [his]Cosmonaut crewmate."
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