Moscow has threatened to end cooperation on the International Space Station if the United States and other Western countries do not lift their sanctions against Russia.
Moscow’s leadership will soon propose specific deadlines for ending the cooperation, the head of the Russian space agency, Dmitry Rogozin, said Saturday via Telegram. The letters would then be sent to space agencies in the US, Canada, Japan and the EU.
Normal operation only without sanctions from Russia
A complete restoration of normal relations between the ISS partners is “possible only with a complete and unconditional suspension of illegal sanctions,” Rogozin said. He also published letters in response to the Telegram from his US colleague Bill Nelson at NASA and the director general of the European Space Agency (ESA), Josef Aschbacher, among others.
Nelson replied that cooperation with Russia on the ISS should continue. So NASA also wants to work with US officials on simplified solutions, it said with a view to sanctions-prone Russian companies, including space rocket maker Progress. “Maintaining safe and successful ISS operations remains a priority for the United States.”
Letter to EU members
In contrast, the Austrian Aschbacher acted only as a “postman”, Rogosin said. He just passed the Roskosmos letter to EU members. Russia must therefore wait until all EU members have spoken, criticized Rogozin. Until then, the ISS could “die its own death”.
Of course, sanctions will not be lifted. However, it is intended that they do not concern the ISS, “where Russia’s role is fundamentally important in ensuring the vital functions and security” of humanity’s outpost. This is unacceptable. The sanctions were intended to cripple Russia’s high-tech companies. “The purpose of sanctions is to kill Russia’s economy, plunge our people into despair and hunger, bring our country to its knees,” he said. But that won’t work.