Dmitry Rogozin, head of Roscosmos, told reporters that the state agency was preparing a report on the prospects of international co-operation at the station, which would be presented to the federal authorities “after Roscosmos completes its analysis”.
Rogozin hinted on Russian state television that Western sanctions, some of which precede Russia’s current military operations in Ukraine, could disrupt the operation of Russian spacecraft serving the ISS with cargo flights.  Russia also sends manned missions to the space station.
He stressed that the Western partners need the space station and “can not do without Russia, because no one but us can deliver fuel to the station.”
Rogozin added that “only the engines of our cargo ship are able to correct the trajectory of the ISS, keeping it safe from space debris.”
Rogozin later wrote on his Telegram channel on Saturday that he had received responses from his Western counterparts who had pledged to promote “further co-operation for the ISS and its operations”.
He reiterated his view that “the restoration of normal relations between ISS partners and other joint (space) projects is possible only with the complete and unconditional lifting of sanctions”, which he described as illegal.
The Canadian Space Agency declined to comment.  NASA and the European Space Agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Space is one of the last remaining areas of cooperation between Moscow and Western nations.  Negotiations between the United States and Russia on the resumption of joint flights to the space station were under way when Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine last month, sparking unprecedented sanctions on Russian-linked entities.
So far, the United States and Russia continue to work together in space.  A NASA astronaut caught a Russian ride back to Earth on Wednesday after a US record of 355 days on the International Space Station, returning with two astronauts.
Mark Vande Hei landed in a Soyuz capsule in Kazakhstan with Pyotr Dubrov of the Russian Space Agency, who also spent last year in space, and Anton Shkaplerov.  The wind blew the capsule to her side after the touch, and the trinity emerged in the sun late in the afternoon one by one.
The return of Vande Hei followed the usual procedures.  A small team of doctors and other NASA staff were on hand for the touchdown and immediately returned home with the 55-year-old astronaut.
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