Downplaying the severity of Western sanctions, Russian space agency Roscosmos’s Director-General Dmitry Rogozin confidently said that they won’t significantly harm Russia’s space initiatives.
He also listed a number of “purely civilian tasks” such as navigation, digital, space television, and space communications and observation from space stating that these are beyond the reach of western sanctions.
In a Twitter post, Rogozin informed that the launch was conducted using the Soyuz 2.1b rocket to deliver a satellite to assist Russia’s Defense Ministry.
While the US along with several European countries were mounting sanctions on Russia, many analysts said that this has pushed Moscow into China’s camp.
So far, Roscosmos has foiled its relations with almost every major space agency including the US’ NASA, and the European Space Agency had also announced to suspend all operations with Russia over its unprovoked attack on Ukraine.