Russia ceases work on joint space projects with Europe

Roscosmos says it has sought China's cooperation regarding the deep space missions

Russia's Space Corporation Roscosmos will cease its work on the joint projects with Europe as well as the US and would instead seek collaboration with China, according to the Russia space agency head.

According to Dmitry Rogozin, he has given an order to his team to begin negotiations with Beijing on the said coordination and technical assistance pertaining to the deep space missions, inlcuding Venera-D’, the country's first mission to Venus after the Soviet era.

“Under the conditions of sanctions, US participation in the project is impossible,” Rogozin wa quoted as saying, RT reported.

On Saturday, Roscosmos announced to suspend cooperation with Europe on space launches from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana in response to Western sanctions over Ukraine, Roskosmos head Dmitry Rogozin said on Saturday.

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"In response to EU sanctions against our companies, Roskosmos is suspending cooperation with European partners on space launches from Kourou, and is withdrawing its technical staff... from French Guiana," Rogozin had said in a post on his Telegram channel.

The European Union played down Russia's pullout, saying it would not affect the quality of service of its satellite networks Galileo and Copernicus.

A day earlier, when asked for Nasa's response to Rogozin's outburst, the US space agency said in a statement it was continuing to work with all of its international partners, including Roscosmos, "for the ongoing safe operations of the International Space Station."

"The new export control measures will continue to allow US-Russia civil space operations," Nasa added. "No changes are planned to the agency's support for ongoing in-orbit and ground-station operations."