Professionals, Roscosmos Won't Leave US Astronauts In Space Despite Washington's Sanctions Russia

JAKARTA - The Russian aerospace company said it would remain professional, fulfilling the agreement according to the schedule for the repatriation of US astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS), despite Moscow being hit by US-led Western sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.

Roscosmos, the state-owned aerospace company, said it never gave its partners the slightest chance to doubt its professionalism. Ensuring US astronauts will return to Earth as scheduled on March 30 with their fleet of space vehicles, the company said.

Earlier, several US media outlets expressed doubts as to whether Russia would agree to bring US astronaut Mark Vande Hei back to Earth, amid sanctions imposed on Russia over the situation in Ukraine.

"US astronaut Mark Vande Hei will make his return journey on the Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft along with Anton Shkaplerov of Russia and Pyotr Dubrov on March 30," the Roscosmos press service said, citing TASS March 15.

"Roscosmos has never allowed anyone to doubt its reliability as a partner," continued the press service. The company emphasizes that the safety of the ISS crew is always its top priority.

Earlier, Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin posted on his Telegram channel an excerpt from a Fox News broadcast claiming Russia may have left US astronauts in space.

To note, the Soyuz MS-19 space capsule carrying Anton Shkaplerov, Pyotr Dubrov and Mark Vande Hei is expected to land on March 30. Dubrov and Vande Hei arrived at the ISS on the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft along with Oleg Novitsky.

Previously, this descent module brought back to Earth two members of the feature film crew, actress Yulia Peresild and film director Klim Shipenko, who had arrived on the ISS with Anton Shkaplerov on Soyuz MS-19 last October 5.