MOSCOW, April 03. /ITAR-TASS/. The US space agency’s decision to suspend cooperation with Russia has no impact on bilateral projects in medicine and biology, A Russian expert has said.

“The Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medical and Biological Problems (IMBP) is doing much to work out joint programms,” the IMBP’s spokesman, Mark Belakovsky told ITAR-TASS on Thursday.

“I believe that joint programms in medicine and biology have not been delayed. Cooperation is mutually advantageous. Other countries such as Japan, Canada and European states, are taking part in it,” he said.

“Neither the Americans nor we intend to stop high-tech and mutually beneficial cooperation,” Belakovsky said.

“Even in the Cold War times there were always links that united states. Over more than 40 years we have maintained cooperation in space medicine and biology,” he said.

“We developed mutually advantageous projects such as Mir-NASA and Mir-Shuttle. Russian and U. astronauts jointly work at the International Space Station (ISS),” he said.

“This year Russia is planning to launch several spacecraft under the federal and commercial programms. We hope to cope with the tasks,” an official of the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Centre told ITAR-TASS.

The center is taking part in Russia-US International Launch Services to promote Russia’s Proton rockets on the world market, he said.

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is suspending most of its cooperation with Russia, the ISS excepted, due to the current situation in Ukraine.