Moscow. March 1st. INTERFAX - Roscosmos will focus the resources released due to the curtailment of cooperation with Europe and the United States on the creation of defense systems, said the head of the state corporation Dmitry Rogozin.
"The main design, technological and financial resources released from joint international research projects with the United States and the European Union will now be directed to the creation of space systems exclusively for defense and dual-use purposes," Rogozin wrote in his telegram channel.
"In the conditions of the announced sanctions, Roscosmos will reconsider its priorities and focus on achieving full import independence in matters of space instrumentation," he added.
Earlier on Tuesday, the press service of Roscosmos told Interfax that under the conditions of sanctions, the extension of the agreement on the operation of the ISS after 2024 causes skepticism.
The press service said that Roscosmos has been building relations with Western partners for decades, demonstrating openness and readiness for international cooperation.
Roscosmos expressed hope that the US State Department will soon stop pressure on NASA and allow a dialogue with the Russian Federation to begin, otherwise the failure of agreements will affect the international manned program.
"As for the United States, we hope that the State Department will soon stop pressure on NASA and allow them to start a dialogue with Russia," the state corporation's press service told Interfax.
The day before, the head of the NASA manned program, Kathy Luders, said that NASA and Roscosmos continue to cooperate in the normal mode. Also, according to her, there are no plans among the ISS partners to abandon work at the station.
On Monday, the European Space Agency said that the agency fully complies with the sanctions imposed against Russia. According to the agency, the imposition of sanctions and the "general context of the situation" make the launch of the Russian-European ExoMars mission in 2022 unlikely.
