Russia has further exacerbated its threat to withdraw from the International Space Station (ISS) due to the sanctions imposed on the country after its invasion of Ukraine. State media reported that Roscosmos would notify its international partners 12 months before departure.
The head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos is now making its statements, ending more than 21 years of close cooperation between Russia and the United States, European Union, Canada and Japan in low Earth orbit, after threatening to withdraw in early March. He says they are considering handing it over to their partners in .
Roscosmos General Manager Dmitry Rogozin told Russian state media, “The decision has already been made, we don’t have to speak publicly about it. I can only say one thing: In accordance with our obligations, we will warn our partners one year in advance of the cessation of work on the ISS.”
Rogozin previously stated that “normal relations” between partners in the ISS can only be “removed completely and unconditionally from illegal sanctions”.
Work on the ISS has already been halted due to the effects of the war in Ukraine. Roscosmos has previously said that it will no longer cooperate with European partners on joint experiments on the Russian part of the ISS and now plans to conduct them independently.
However, Russia cannot simply leave the ISS. There are a number of practices and contractual protocols that must be followed before leaving the ISS. According to the current agreement, the ISS is to be established by at least 2024. While the US has expressed a desire to continue the project until 2030, Roscosmos is asking for a withdrawal. He says he will leave the ISS in 2024, the earliest possible time. It is unclear how the withdrawal of Russia will affect the US willingness to continue the project until the end of the decade.
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