Russian space agency Roscosmos has halted the supply of rocket engines to the United State in response to Western sanctions in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“In a situation like this we can’t supply the United States with our world’s best rocket engines. Let them fly on something else, their broomsticks, I don’t know what,” the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin said on state Russian television.
The head of Rocosmos added that the company will stop servicing the remaining rocket engines in the United States. According to Rogozin, a total of 122 RD-180 rocket engines have been delivered to the United States since 1990, and the US still has 24 RD-180 rocket engines that will need to be serviced.
Интервью Дмитрия Рогозина телеканалу «Россия 24» 3 марта: https://t.co/8TcoS994vj
— РОСКОСМОС (@roscosmos) March 3, 2022
Роскосмос не будет обслуживать оставшиеся у США 24 двигателя РД-180, а РД-181 прекращает поставлять. pic.twitter.com/J66nJDPeQ6
Roscosmos also said it would not launch 36 OneWeb satellites unless the company reassured that its satellites would not be used for military purposes. On March 3, 2022, British satellite company OneWeb, which is partly owned by the British government, suspended all launches from the Russian-run Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Первый этап снятия ракеты-носителя «Союз-2.1б» с космическими аппаратами OneWeb: начался развод вертикальных колонн обслуживания pic.twitter.com/yO6NfpA3Ru
— РОСКОСМОС (@roscosmos) March 4, 2022
In late February 2022, Roscosmos announced the suspension of several collaborative projects with Europe and the US.
“In a response to European Union sanctions on our companies, Roscosmos is halting cooperation with European partners in organizing space launches from the spaceport of Kuru and recalling its personnel, including the combined starting crew, from the French Guiana,” the agency stated in a Twitter post published on February 16, 2022.