Moscow - The decision of NASA to halt cooperation with the Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) is their choice, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.
“Well, this is the choice of the Americans,” he told Interfax on
Thursday.
“NASA has just announced it will stop cooperating with Roscosmos in every
field but the International Space Station project,” he said.
“Even in this case, they declare a firm intention ‘to rid themselves of the
dependence’ the U.S. has allegedly fallen into over the decades-long cooperation
in manned space missions,” Ryabkov said.
NASA declared the end of cooperation with Russia and banned Russian trips of
its employees until further notice, as well as e-mail correspondence,
teleconferences and meetings with Russian partners at international events. The
report said the restrictions do not apply to joint work for the ISS, where a
U.S. astronaut is on a mission.
