On Thursday, President Joe Biden slammed new sanctions down that were designed to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin for initiating a full-scale invasion into Ukraine.
As part of these newly placed sanctions were sections that Biden states, “will degrade their aerospace industry, including their space program.”
“Biden says that today the US is blocking multiple large Russian banks including VTB, sanctioning Russian elites and family members, cutting off Russia’s high tech imports which will prevent them from modernizing multiple industries such as their space program,” reported Kylie Atwood, a CNN National Security correspondent.
“Putin is the aggressor. Putin chose this war, and now he and this country will bear the consequences. Today, I’m authorizing additional strong sanctions and new limitations on what can be exported to Russia,” stated Biden as he put forth the new sanctions. “We estimate that we’ll cut off more than half of Russia’s high-tech imports. That will strike a blow to their ability to continue to modernize their military. It’ll degrade their aerospace industry, including their space program.”
However, any sanctions that target the Russian space program directly may cascade a bit and complicate other matters, and possibly relationships, among those currently serving on the International Space Station (ISS), as highlighted by Kristin Fisher, the CNN space and defense correspondent.
“Biden announces that new sanctions against Russia ‘will degrade their aerospace industry, including their space program.’ No mention of the partnership at the International Space Station where 4 NASA astronauts, 2 Russian cosmonauts, & 1 European astronaut are currently on board,” she stated in a tweet.
Biden announces that new sanctions against Russia "will degrade their aerospace industry, including their space program."
No mention of the partnership at the International Space Station where 4 NASA astronauts, 2 Russian cosmonauts, & 1 European astronaut are currently on board
— Kristin Fisher (@KristinFisher) February 24, 2022
As stated in a report from the Associated Press that was published just one day prior, exports do not think that tensions earthside should not spill over and affect those on the ISS and its overall mission.
An aerospace expert says tensions over Ukraine should not have a significant impact on the International Space Station or U.S.-Russia cooperation in space. Four NASA astronauts and two Russian cosmonauts are among those currently on the space station. https://t.co/STozNjATMp
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 24, 2022
As highlighted in a report from the AP:
Tensions in eastern Ukraine and heightened Western fears of a Russian invasion should not have a significant impact on the International Space Station or U.S.-Russia cooperation in space, the former head of the National Space Council told The Associated Press.
…
Scott Pace, who served as executive secretary of the space council under President Donald Trump and is now the director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, said the space station “has been largely isolated” from political events.
“It’s possible to imagine a break with Russia that would endanger the space station, but that would be at the level of a dropping diplomatic relations,” said Pace. “That would be something that would be an utterly last resort so I don’t really see that happening unless there is a wider military confrontation.”