Putin dismisses Russian space chief Rogozin
July 15, 2022
Russian President Vladimir Putin sacked Russia's space chief, Dmitry Rogozin, by presidential decree on Friday.
The decree ordered Rogozin's dismissal "from the post of general director of the Roscosmos state space corporation."
The reasons behind the move were not immediately clear, and there was no immediate word on a new job for Rogozin, who is a longtime Putin ally. Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the 58-year-old career politician would get a new job "in due time."
Some Russian media speculated that Rogozin could be tasked to oversee Russian-controlled territories in eastern and southern Ukraine.
Rogozin, who held the job since 2018 has repeatedly raised eyebrows with his statements.
In May, he wrote on social media that it would take Russia only half an hour to "destroy" NATO countries in a nuclear war.
Putin reshuffles other top officials
Putin replaced Rogozin with Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov.
As deputy prime minister, Borisov oversaw the Russian space and defense industry.
Borisov previously acknowledged some shortcomings in Russian weapons programs spotlighted by the war in Ukraine.
He said the military industries should have been more active in developing and producing drones.
"I think we were late with the deployment of drones," he said in an interview with state TV.
Trade and industry minister Denis Manturov was appointed to replace Borisov.
Roscosmos signs deal with NASA
Meanwhile, Roscosmos said it signed a deal with NASA to allow Russian cosmonauts to fly on commercial crew vehicles and American astronauts on Soyuz spacecraft.
NASA said that astronaut Frank Rubio would fly with two Russian cosmonauts on a Soyuz rocket scheduled to launch on September 21 from Kazakhstan.
The deal comes despite NASA's recent condemnation of the actions of three Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station.
Roscosmos posted pictures of cosmonauts holding flags of the Luhansk People's Republic and the Donetsk People's Republic — two Russian-backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine.
"NASA strongly rebukes Russia using the ISS for political purposes to support its war against Ukraine," NASA said in a statement.
"(It) is fundamentally inconsistent with the station's primary function among the 15 international participating countries to advance science and develop technology for peaceful purposes."
The ISS, a collaboration among the US, Canada, Japan, the European Space Agency and Russia, is split into two sections: the US Orbital Segment, and the Russian Orbital Segment.
The European Space Agency has recently terminated cooperation with Russia on a mission to put a rover on Mars.
Rogozin responded furiously by banning cosmonauts on the ISS from using a Europe-made robotic arm.
lo/dj (AP, AFP, Reuters)