As the conflict in Ukraine continues, Russia’s ongoing attempts at invasion and frequent attacks upon their cities, countries around the world are doing what they can to stand up to Russia while also keeping their own safety in mind.
Sanctions have been a large part of this strategy, and some sanctions being put in place are starting to take a real toll on Russian officials.
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Sanctions have become a powerful tool in the world’s fight against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
They hope that by cutting the country off economically, Russia will back down easier, not wanting to sever all ties permanently.
Some Russian officials aren’t taking too well to the announcement of these sanctions. Like Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russia’s Space Agency.
US President Joe Biden has called for a number of sanctions against Russia.
Among which, he’s cut more than half of Russia’s high-tech imports into the US, namely surrounding aerospace engineering, with the goal of threatening to degrade their space program.
Rogozin was not too happy about this.
He responded to these specific sanctions with a threat.
The tweet has since been deleted, but it initially contained a threat to abandon NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei in space. He also threatened to detach Russia’s part of the ISS, saying it would crash into America without Russia’s help to steer it clear of space debris.
Vande Hei is currently scheduled to return home in a Russian spacecraft in a few weeks.
NASA hasn’t commented on this situation directly.
Though they confirmed earlier that ‘no changes are planned’ in regards to US and Russian co-operation aboard the ISS and carrying out their duties.
US astronaut Cady Coleman spoke to ABC News about the matter, explaining how nationality meant little aboard the ISS. “Space is hard and space is dangerous. And in my experience … with our Russian partners […] It means talking about what’s hard for you, what’s hard for them and how together we can get this accomplished,” she said, “[We] look each other in the eye and realize that we’re all about the same thing.”
h/t: Unilad
