European Space Agency Chief Says Sees No Possibility for Restoring Cooperation With Russia

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - European Space Agency (ESA) Director General Josef Aschbacher said that the organization was not considering the restoration of cooperation with Russia at the same level.

"I cannot see a rebuild of the cooperation we had in the past. I am speaking here on behalf of my member states. They all have very much the same opinion. And this is really something where the behavior of ESA will reflect the geopolitical situation of the member states on this point," Aschbacher said in an interview with Ars Technica, published on Tuesday.

In March, the ESA confirmed its compliance with the sanctions imposed by the European Union on Russia over Ukraine. The agency acknowledged that sanctions targeting the Russian economy and technological sector make the launch of the Russian-European mission ExoMars very unlikely. In July, the ESA sent a notification to Russia's Roscosmos to inform about the decision to terminate the cooperation on the ExoMars project.

Roscosmos chief Yuri Borisov told Sputnik that Russia will try to maintain cooperation with foreign countries on the scientific exploration of space, despite the termination of cooperation on the Russian-European mission ExoMars.