MOSCOW, April 21. /TASS/. Russian cosmonautics lacks the funds that were available during the Soviet period and thus is under huge financial restraints, Roscosmos Chief Dmitry Rogozin said at a general meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences on Wednesday.

"There is a big difference between the spending on the Soviet and Russian cosmonautics. We are under huge financial restraints," the Roscosmos chief said.

This prompts the Russian space agency to set priorities and choose those that will yield a big effect. And it should not in any case engage in those ‘championships and competitions’ where Russia is bound to get only second or third places from the very outset, he stressed.

Problems emerge with space research and there are attempts to cut its financing, Rogozin pointed out. "Moon explorations, a flight to Mars, a Venus mission - you have to choose not from what you want but from what is vitally necessary for the country and its prestige as well as for having an insight into the fundamental development of science," Rogozin noted.

"Are you sure that we will have sufficient funds for all the four missions, including Venera-D and then three national missions? I am not sure of that. If you have to choose among these missions, you have to choose precisely those that will yield a huge synergy effect," the Roscosmos chief said.

The mission of collecting soil samples from that planet and delivering them to Earth is the most important one, Rogozin said.