Roscosmos stops launching British satellites
Roscosmos is stopping all launches from all Russian launch complexes in Kourou (Guiana), Baikonur and the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the interests of the British company OneWeb.
The company's head, Dmitry Rogozin, announced this at a meeting of the commission preparing for the launch of the Soyuz-2.1b rocket, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“Based on the fact that OneWeb has not complied with our legal demands to provide information on the use of the OneWeb space communications system for military purposes, including in the interests of the Pentagon and the military departments of NATO member countries , and in connection with the fact that the British government, which is currently waging an unbridled anti-Russian campaign , continues to remain on the board of directors of OneWeb, preparations for the launch are to be stopped.
It is in the interests of OneWeb to stop launches from all Russian launch complexes in Kourou, Baikonur and the Vostochny cosmodrome in the interests of OneWeb, to remove the rocket from the launch complex and return it to the technical complex.
Earlier, General Director of Glavkosmos JSC Dmitry Loskutov reported that he had received a response to Roscosmos’ demand to provide guarantees that the satellites they launch will not be used for military purposes.
“Our European partners believe that the guarantees they gave in 2018-19 are sufficient. We are convinced that our demand is legitimate, and the guarantees are no longer relevant. In addition to the mass of media reports that the devices in the interests of the OneWeb company will be highly-liked and are already used by the Pentagon and other military departments, you can verify this by opening the OneWeb company website. It says this directly there. We are disappointed that they are trying to mislead us and lead us by the nose. The information that OneWeb intends to cooperate with the military departments in the interests of the company is included in their business plan. A number of contracts were concluded at the end of last year. The question arises, what is the price of their guarantees,” Loskutov said.
At the same time, Deputy General Director of Roscosmos Alexander Lopatin clarified that there are no technical obstacles to launching OneWeb satellites.
Roscosmos halts British satellite launches