Despite Bloomberg’s claim, there is no hard evidence that “Russia will quit International Space Station over sanctions”

Bloomberg is claiming that “Russia Will Quit International Space Station Over Sanctions” in an article dated April 30, 2022. The article states that Dmitri Rogozin, head of Russia’s space program, “said Moscow will pull out of the International Space Station”.

The source for this claim, according to Bloomberg, is Russian “state media”, specifically “an interview with state TV on Saturday” which Bloomberg says has been reported by TASS and Ria Novosti.

However, the English edition of TASS on April 29 quoted Rogozin as saying that “if Russia decided to withdraw from the ISS project, it would notify its foreign partners about this decision a year in advance” (emphasis added).

TASS also adds that “Rogozin reiterated that a package of proposals on Russia’s cooperation with foreign partners on the ISS project after the year of 2024 was sent to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the country’s government.”

Moreover, another TASS interview with Rogozin, in Russian and dated April 29, 2022, states that “currently there is a decision of the Russian government to extend cooperation with [ISS] partners until 2024”. There is no mention of anything close to “Moscow will pull out of the International Space Station” as claimed by Bloomberg.

At the time of this writing, Bloomberg has not responded to my request for the exact source of the “will quit” statement it attributes to Rogozin.

Unless Bloomberg can provide further evidence, its claim that Rogozin stated unequivocally that Russia will quit the ISS appears to be incorrect and is contradicted by other recent statements made by the head of the Russian space program.