MOSCOW, November 15 (RIA Novosti) – The new head of Russia’s federal space agency Roscosmos has requested that the country no longer buy telecommunications satellites from abroad because that money should go to the domestic industry, a Russian business daily reported Friday.
Roscosmos head Oleg Ostapenko, who was appointed to the position last month, wrote a letter to Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the space and defense sectors, proposing that the Russian company Information Satellite Systems should become a monopoly supplier of civilian telecom satellites for domestic needs, the Kommersant daily reported.
If the request is satisfied, the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company, currently a major supplier of telecom satellites for the state-run Russian Satellite Communications Company, is expected to lose out on hundreds of millions of dollars in Russian contracts.
RSCC, which has orders pending with EADS, told the newspaper that “this is a direct violation not only of the principles of the World Trade Organization but also anti-monopoly legislation.”
Ostapenko reportedly asked for the ban to be considered in the federal space program for 2016 to 2025.
