Russia says it will end cooperation on the ISS

The head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, said Russia plans to end cooperation on the International Space Station (ISS)and that partnership in space is possible only once sanctions imposed by the United States, Canada, the European Union, and Japan are lifted. The sanctions by Western countries were imposed in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

“The purpose of the sanctions is to kill the Russian economy, plunge our people into despair and hunger, and bring our country to its knees. It is clear that they will not be able to do this, but the intentions are clear,” Rogozin wrote on his Telegram channel. 

Rogozin said that proposals on when to halt cooperation on the ISS will be presented to Russian authorities in the near future. 

Rogozin added: “I believe that the restoration of normal relations between partners in the International Space Station and other joint projects is possible only with the complete and unconditional lifting of illegal sanctions.” 

The news comes just five days after a US astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts safely returned to earth onboard the Russian Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft.  

In March 2022, Dmitry Rogozin claimed that the ISS could crash if sanctions were not lifted. Roscosmos also sent written appeals to NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency with a “demand to lift illegal” sanctions against Roscosmos. 

“The Russian segment ensures that the station’s orbit is corrected (on average 11 times a year), including to avoid space debris,” Rogozin wrote on his Telegram channel on March 14, 2022.  “But the populations of other countries, especially those led by the ‘dogs of war’, should think about the price of the sanctions against Roscosmos.”  

In early March 2022, Roscosmos also said it will halt the supply of rocket engines to the United States.