MOSCOW: The new EU sanctions have not affected the work of the Khrunichev State Space Research and Production Center (part of the Roscosmo...
MOSCOW: The new EU sanctions have not affected the work of the Khrunichev State Space Research and Production Center (part of the Roscosmos corporation), the enterprise’s general director Alexey Varochko said in an interview with TASS.
"The 10th EU sanctions package added the Khrunichev Center to the list of sanctioned companies, which basically did not change anything. The main restrictions were already introduced against our entire industry a year ago," Varochko said.
According to him, some foreign partners may be afraid of "secondary sanctions" from the European Union in the event of developing business ties with the Khrunichev Center.
"But we are not afraid of this, because the Khrunichev Center produces space technologies without the use of foreign components. Neither the Proton-M launch vehicle, nor the Angara family of launch vehicles, or our upper stage rockets have foreign components," he emphasized.
Varochko noted that foreign customers are more interested in cooperation, since there is a shortage of launch capacities on the market, which has become especially acute with the emergence of low-orbit satellite constellations.
"SpaceX, in my opinion, will not be able to serve the market alone while maintaining an acceptable price level. The market needs launch capacities. This affects the growth in prices for launch services. Therefore, they simply shoot themselves in the foot with such sanctions," the head of the enterprise said.
In his opinion, the US has a deeper understanding of the market than the Europeans, since Washington did not include the Khrunichev Center in the sanctions list. The restrictions include a ban on business activity in the EU, an asset freeze and a ban on European businesses from any contact with these structures.
Sanctions
Varochko recalled that in May 2019, amendments were issued to the US National Defense Authorization Act, which limited the use of Russian missile launch services. Further developments showed that the United States aims to remove the competitors of American launch service providers from the market.
On February 25, the EU introduced the 10th package of sanctions against 33 Russian legal entities and one transport company registered in the UAE. The Khrunichev State Space Research and Production Center was among them.
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