Russia's space program again threatened its partners, particularly the West, with non-cooperation within the International Space Station (ISS) unless they lifted the economic sanctions against Russia.
Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin recently tweeted in Russian that the economic sanctions placed against Russia are "unacceptable" and that normal relations between Russia and the West can only be achieved through "the complete and unconditional lifting of illegal sanctions."
Rogozin's tweet named the United States, Japan, Canada, and the European Union as its partners within the ISS. His tweet was translated using Google Translate.
Rogozin's Tweet Details
According to Rogozin's tweet, the responses of Roscosmos' partners to his complaint regarding the sanctions confirmed that they would not lift the economic sanctions placed on Russia and that, in reality, sanctions in terms of work in the interests of the ISS would also not work.
"I consider this state of affairs unacceptable," Rogozin said in his tweet. "Sanctions from the United States, Canada, the European Union, and Japan... is to kill the Russian economy, plunge our people into despair and hunger, and bring our country to its knees."
Rogozin also added that the sanctions are also affecting its high-tech enterprises to the point that the sanctions hinder their financial, economic, and production activities.
Furthermore, Rogozin mentioned that specific Rocosmos proposals on the timing of the completion of cooperation within the framework of the ISS with its partner space agencies would be reported to the Russian leadership in the near future.
Rogozin did not specify what the effects of its reporting of their ISS proposals would be. However, Space.com mentioned in its article that Rogozin's tweets do not necessarily mean that the ISS program is in immediate danger of dissolution, adding that the Russian space chief is "a blustery figure with a history of hyperbolic statements."
Roscosmos' Previous Threat
Roscosmos' latest threat was not the first; it previously threatened to leave NASA Astronaut Mark Vande Hei behind in the ISS while the two Russian cosmonauts who accompanied Vande Hei in the space station were sent back to Earth through a Russian spacecraft as previously scheduled. It also threatened to detach Russia's segment of the ISS due to the sanctions placed on Russia.
This previous threat was recorded on video by Rogozin on February 26.
However, Space.com reported that it was business as usual in the ISS, with Vande Hei being able to return to Earth with the two cosmonauts in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft that landed in Kazakhstan on March 30 as planned.
International Space Station Details
The ISS is a space station assembled largely by the U.S. and Russia in low Earth orbit with assistance and components from other countries, according to Britannica.
The space station began as an all-American project named Freedom but was delayed due to funding and technical problems. It was later redesigned in 1990 to reduce costs and expand international involvement, which is a move that eventually led to the project's renaming to the ISS.
Aside from the space station's American and Russian modules, which were named Zarya and Unity, respectively, the ISS also features contributions from the European Space Agency and Japan.
