Russia to quit International Space station after 2024

Russia has chosen to leave the International Space Station “after 2024,” the newly appointed head of Moscow’s space agency informed on Tuesday to President Vladimir Putin.

The declaration comes as the Kremlin and the West are at odds over Moscow’s military action in Ukraine, as well as numerous rounds of unprecedented sanctions against Russia.

Russia and the United States have worked side by side on the ISS, which has been in orbit since 1998.

“Of course, we will fulfill all of our commitments to our partners, but the decision to leave this station after 2024 has been made,” Yury Borisov, who was appointed Roscosmos chief in mid-July, told Putin.

“I think that by this time we will start putting together a Russian orbital station,” Borisov added, calling it the space programme’s main “priority”.

“Good,” Putin replied in comments released by the Kremlin.

Until now, space exploration was one of the only areas where cooperation between Russia, the US, and its allies had not been hampered by tensions over Ukraine and elsewhere.

Borisov said the space industry was in a “difficult situation”.

He claimed that he would aim to “raise the bar, and first and foremost, to supply the Russian economy with the required space services,” referring to navigation, communication, and data transmission, among other things.

Borisov, a former deputy prime minister with military experience, has taken over from Dmitry Rogozin, a fiery nationalist politician known for his provocative remarks and unorthodox behavior.