Russia leaves Soyuz on the ground: end of collaboration with Europe

It is inevitable, the news of these days almost exclusively concerns the Russia-Ukraine question, and as we have seen also the technology sector it is strongly impacted by the dramatic evolution of the situation. Relations between Moscow and the rest of the world are gradually crumbling, with the stances of the United States and Europe aimed at isolating Putin both politically and economically. The reaction of the Kremlin was not long in coming, demonstrating how unfortunately the diplomatic path is tragically moving further and further away, and even in space the confrontation is becoming decidedly bitter.

Starting from the threats of the Director General of Roscosmos – the Russian equivalent of NASA, to be clear – who a few days ago covertly threatened the West by bringing up the International Space Station, until recently a symbol of cooperation between the USA and Europe , Canada, Japan and Russia itself has now become a strategic tool of intimidation. It is therefore inevitable too stop to cooperation between Roscosmos and the European Union for joint space programswhich now leads to the interruption of works and missions involving the use of the space probe Soyuz.

Thus we read in the tweet published by the Russian space agency:

In response to the European Union sanctions against our companies, Roscosmos is suspending cooperation with European partners in organizing space launches from the Kourou Cosmodrome and withdrawing its personnel, including the consolidated launch crew, from French Guiana. .

Roscosmos was also hit by a DDoS attack in recent hours “from foreign servers“: we are not sure, but it cannot be excluded that behind this operation there is the collective that has officially declared cyber warfare to Russia by taking several institutional sites offline.

Meanwhile, the General Manager Dmitry Rogozin he defined “inappropriate“the participation of the United States in the Russian mission Venera-D: we expect that similar decisions will also be made for the project on the development and creation of the space station in lunar orbit, the result of the agreement signed in 2017 between NASA and Roscosmos. And to think that just a couple of days ago it seemed instead that space could be the point that still kept Russia united with the rest of the world: in fact, the words of ESA CEO Josef Aschbacher are very recent: “Despite the current conflict, cooperation in civilian space maintains the link between us“Now, unfortunately, the situation really seems to have precipitated also on this aspect.

Regarding Soyuz, Russia has recalled its 87 workers working in French Guiana. The blocking of cooperation will cause slowdowns in space operations, both for Arianespace and for the ISS. During 2021 the capsule had been used several times to bring astronauts to the space station and to bring them back to Earth. and not just astronauts: in October, in fact, cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov flew on the Soyuz together with actress Yulia Peresild and film producer Klim Shipenko to shoot some scenes of the film The Challenge.

Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for Space, spoke on the Soyuz issue:

I note the decision of the Russian space agency Roscosmos to withdraw from Guyana’s Kourou space center following sanctions imposed on Russia by the EU and its partners in response to Russian military aggression in Ukraine. I confirm that this decision has no consequences on the continuity and quality of the Galileo and Copernicus services. Nor does this decision jeopardize the continued development of these infrastructures.