MOSCOW, May 30. /TASS/. Pentagon’s decision to ban Russia’s services in carrying out space launches may have an adverse impact on international cooperation in the organization of commercial launches, Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos said on Thursday.
"This decision can negatively tell on international cooperation in the organization of regular commercial space launches," it said in a press statement posted on its website.
According to Roscosmos, this decision can be seen as an attempt to impose artificial restrictions on the use of Russian launch vehicles on the global market. "As a matter of fact, it is an attempt to deprive American manufacturers of the possibility to work with the Russian space industry, to artificially restrict the use of Russian launch vehicles on the international market," it said.
"Pentagon is seeking to wreck what was created through such laborious efforts and has been maintained in Russia-US relations in the space sector," Roscosmos stressed.
This decision, according to Roscosmos, is nothing but a manifestation of unfair competition on the global market of space services.
"Roscosmos condemns this decision by the US Department of Defense as yet another manifestation of Washington’s unfair competition on the international space services market," it added.
According to earlier reports, the US Department of Defense has included Russia in the list of countries whose services cannot be used after December 31, 2022 in carrying out space launches. A notification to this effect was uploaded by the Pentagon’s Federal Acquisition Regulation System to the website of the Federal Register - the daily journal of the US Government.
It says that Russia was added to the list of foreign countries that also includes China, North Korea, Iran, Sudan and Syria, whose services cannot be used in putting commercial satellites in space after December 31, 2022.