'It was a retaliatory step': Russia denied a visa to a NASA official

Moscow said on Wednesday, February 17, that it refused to issue a visa to a candidate for the post of head of the US aerospace agency NASA in Russia, stating that this is in response to the refusal of the US authorities to issue a visa to a certain Russian official. "Voice of America".

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Russia did not reveal the name of the US official who was denied a visa and did not provide details of the incident to which it responded. The US Embassy has not yet responded to a request for comment.

"It was a retaliatory step," said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, according to RIA Novosti.

Russia and the United States have worked closely in space for decades. Joint flights to the International Space Station were carried out despite deteriorating relations in other areas.

According to Ryabkov, NASA is not responsible for creating obstacles that have reduced the level of interaction with Moscow, which cannot be said about other US government departments.

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The deputy minister said that "ideally" the restrictions on the issuance of diplomatic visas between the two countries could be removed.

“We will propose this to the administration in Washington,” he added.

NASA may cut its offices in Russia

Sources in the rocket and space industry told about this «РИА Новости»... According to them, this is due to a decrease in cooperation in the field of work with the International Space Station.

First of all, employees will be recalled from Star City at the Cosmonaut Training Center: this was a consequence of the US refusal to use Soyuz spacecraft due to the emergence of an alternative - the Crew Dragon apparatus from SpaceX, writes «Radio Svoboda».

NASA representatives cease their permanent presence in the Institute of Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Instead, they will come there for meetings. In addition, almost all personnel will be removed from the head office in Moscow.

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At the same time, the division of the Johnson Space Center at Roscosmos, where astronauts are trained, will continue to operate.

The office in the Mission Control Center near Moscow will also function in the previous mode: this group provides interaction between the command posts in Houston and Korolev to control the ISS.

Cooperation between Russia and the United States in space began half a century ago. In 1972, a corresponding agreement was signed, within the framework of which the Soyuz - Apollo projects, then Mir - Shuttle, and then the ISS project were implemented.

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