The Russian space organisation Roscosmos will no longer take part in the International Space Station (ISS) project, the organisation’s director Dmitry Rogozin said on state television on Saturday. The decision has yet to be presented to the government. ISS partners will then be notified.
Russia will still meet its obligations for another year, Mr Rogozin added, as contractually agreed. His country provides, among other things, fuel to the ISS and allows the Station to maintain its orbit and avoid collisions with space debris.
The Russian Federation, the European Union, the United States, Canada and Japan jointly manage the ISS. Dmitri Rogozin had already indicated a few weeks ago that he wanted to end this collaboration because of the Western sanctions imposed against Russia since it invaded Ukraine on 24 February.
For its part, the European Space Agency (ESA) has suspended the missions to Mars and the Moon that it was to carry out with Roscosmos.
