MOSCOW, August 11. /TASS/. Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos plans to reduce Russia’s crew at the International Space Station (ISS) from three to two cosmonauts, the Izvestia newspaper writes on Thursday, citing Roscosmos manned programs director Sergei Krikalev.

"Plans to reduce the crew stem from the fact that less cargo ships are sent to the ISS and from the necessity to boost the efficiency of the program," the newspaper quotes Krikalev.

Apart from that, it will make it possible to lower expenses on the space station’s maintenance. Thus, according to the Izvestia, the federal space program for 2016-2025 provides for a sum of 252.1 billion rubles (3.88 billion U.S. dollars) of budgetary spending and 12.6 billion rubles (194.14 million U.S. dollars) from off-budget sources for these purposes.

Krikalev said this issue will be discussed with the Mission Control Center, the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems and ISS partners. Corresponding letters have already been referred to the latters.