The new head of Russia’s space agency said Russia will withdraw from the International Space Station (ISS) “after 2024” and build its own space station.
“Of course, we will comply with all our commitments to our partners, but the decision to leave this station after 2024 has been made,” Roscosmos CEO Yury Borisov said, according to remarks in a meeting with President Vladimir Putin that were reported by Interfax.
Borisov said Russia will have started work on its own space station by that time. “Our main priorities will be focused on building a Russian space station,” he was further cited as saying.
Borisov’s predecessor had said back in April that Russia planned to end cooperation on the ISS due to sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
The five ISS principal partners are the space agencies from the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada.
The current partnership was due to end in 2024, but the US Administration announced at the end of 2021 that it wanted to continue ISS operations until 2030.
Borisov was appointed as head of Roscosmos earlier in July, a demotion from his previous post as Deputy Prime Minister.
