Russia to halt delivery and servicing of rocket engines for US in retaliation to sanctions

In a key development, Russia has decided to stop the deliveries of rocket engines it developed for the United States, Russian space agency Roscosmos' head Dmitry Rogozin informed as per Russia Today. Moreover, Russia has also decided to no longer offer servicing to the rocket engines that it already delivered to the US. This comes in retaliation to the sanctions imposed on Russia by the US and several other nations in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine on February 24. 

Roscosmos says no longer obligated to space operations

In the wake of the West's sanctions, Russia has threatened that it would not carry out all of its international obligations related to the space sector owing to the restrictions. Speaking to Russia Today, Rogozin mentioned that cyberattacks by Ukrainian hackers on Roscosmos' website are an 'act of war' and asserted that it is impossible to carry out outer space operations without Russia. Speaking on the sanctions against Russia's space program, he said that they "were introduced a long time ago back in 2014". Admitting that Roscosmos lost a couple of years to the sanctions, he said, "we were able to build our own devices and will continue to make them".

Sanctions against Roscosmos will not stop Roscosmos: Rogozin

Emphasising that the west wants to cripple Russia's space program, he noted that the sanctions would not be enough to stop them. "The Europeans have repeated these sanctions. It is quite obvious that their intention is to bring down the Russian rocket and Russian space industry. We consider this a war declared against us". Rogozin further added that Russia is ready to respond 'just as harshly' and said, "Sanctions against Roscosmos will not Roscosmos. It is difficult to stop us. We have many other customers that do not obey the US sanctions. We will now cooperate with them". 

Russia indeed is responding harshly as it recently refused to launch OneWeb satellites in its Soyuz rocket due to the sanctions imposed on it by the UK. Roscosmos laid two conditions to conduct the launch on March 5 - the first was a guarantee from OneWeb that its satellites would not be used for military purposes and the second was the British government's exit from OneWeb as a stakeholder. The UK, however, rejected the demands and OneWeb has cancelled all its launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Further worsening the relations between space agencies, Rogozin, on Wednesday, released a video showing Russians painting over the flags of the UK, US and Japan on its Soyuz rocket.

Image: Twitter/@Roscosmos