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His comments are certainly not that much more than a

Oct. 13, 2018 by Lena Webb

His comments are certainly not that much more than a typical interview, but they are not that much more than a typical piece of news about the current state of the Russian space industry.

While there are some indications that the Russian government has shifted its focus towards a more serious goal, I am sure that those who follow the news will be quick to note that the Roscosmos story is completely false. The story of Roscosmos's planned launch of a lunar spacecraft in 2015 was already being written and published by some of the world's largest publishers. A few months ago, the Russian government announced that it would not allow any of its space agencies to sell their services in the United States (see the full quote below, for more).

After that, a small team of prominent Russian cosmonauts from around the world were allowed to enter the country (see the complete quote below). The same team of cosmonauts arrived in the US in 2015 and were invited by the President to visit with President-elect Trump. The team went to the US on November 3, 2015. The Russian government denied these flights were planned for the foreseeable future.

The Russian government has not yet provided a formal statement.

The story of Roscosmos is not the only case of an American company operating in Russia. Last July, for example, USA Today published an article stating that Russia's space agency Russia Exploration, the country's biggest, had been awarded a $20 million grant from the US government. In response to that grant, USA Today ran a front page story with the headline "A Russia-US joint venture will bring Americans to Mars." That same day, the US Department of Defense awarded a $45 million contract to Russia's spaceflight company Roscosmos to fly a satellite to the Red Planet.

In February, the US government announced that it was reviewing the Roscosmos project for possible economic sanctions against Russia. On the same day, the Pentagon ordered that the company be closed.