FALCON POWERS – A senior official at the Russian space agency (Roscosmos) estimated the deficit related to the rift between his country and the West after Russia’s attack on Ukraine at around 180 billion rubles (currently 1.9 billion euros).
The Russian news agency Interfax quoted Andrey Elchaninov, the first deputy general director of Roscosmos, as saying “the refusal of (hostile) Western countries to honor contracts has cost Roscosmos 180 billion rubles”.
As part of the sanctions imposed on Moscow after the Russian attack on Ukraine in February 2022, Western countries terminated their partnership with Roscosmos in the space sector.
For example, the European Space Agency (ESA) definitively ended its cooperation with Russia on the joint ExoMars mission to explore Mars.
For its part, Roscosmos suspended the launch of Soyuz rockets from the Kourou space center in French Guiana.
Elchaninov told Interfax that Roscosmos intends to compensate for the shortfall by turning to countries in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
He added “As for returning to the export volume before the sanctions, we have set this as our goal. But it is a long-term task, as is the case in all new markets where competition is strong, but if we can properly break through, the prospects are very good.”
The Russian space sector has been struggling for years due to funding problems, corruption scandals and failures such as the loss of the lunar probe Luna-25 in August 2023.
