Roskosmos Appeals to NASA and ESA to Lift Russia Sanctions & Save the ISS

Roskosmos is sending appeals to NASA and ESA to lift Russia sanctions in relation to its armed invasion of Ukraine to ensure proper operations at the ISS. Russian space agency director Rogozin called the sanctions illegal and stressed that removing those sanctions would be in everyone’s best interest.

Roskosmos Appeals to Save the ISS

Roskosmos director, Dmitry Rogozin, published a tweet implying that the ISS can splashdown and stating that, according to a map made by US astronomers, Russia is in no direct danger of the ISS’s uncontrolled landing. The Telegram post mentioned more heated metaphors, calling out on the ‘dogs of war,’ the price of ‘illegal’ Russia sanctions put forward by the West, and the ‘crazy’ act of ‘maniacally’ destroying international collaboration in space. Rogozin goes on to ask on whom will the 500-tonne ISS land.

International Response to Russia Sanctions

Russia sanctions introduced by the US President Biden followed Russian Federation’s open invasion of Ukraine. Besides collaboration in the space niche, these sanctions affected practically all spheres of the Russian economy. On the other hand, some outer space cooperation between Russia and the USA in the ISS is still present, so Roskosmos’ desperate appeal seems somewhat ungrounded at this moment. However, the US has stopped the supplies of many space-related goods, including semiconductors, encryption security, and avionics technology.

The European Space Agency, however, remains unswayed and has ceased all cooperation with Roskosmos – not only in regards to the ISS, but also on other projects. According to the ESA, the joint 2022 ExoMars mission is very unlikely to happen this year. As a European entity, the ESA has declared full support of the Russia sanctions, including those against Roskosmos.