Attack On Europe: Documenting Russian Equipment Losses During The 2022 Russian Invasion Of Ukraine (2 year anniversary)

Russia desperately lobbies the U.S. to continue and expand its space partnership
August 1, 2025 10:06 am Robert Zimmerman

Roscosmos: a paper tiger
A string of short articles in Russia’s state-run press today, describing the meetings between the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Bakanov, and interim NASA administrator Sean Duffy, suggest strongly that Russia is desperate to link itself with someone in order to continue its generally bankrupt space program.

Bakanov is making his first visit to the U.S. He and Duffy are also conducting the first face-to-face talks by the heads of their respective agencies in eight years. While the U.S. press has been entirely uninterested in these discussions, mostly because it knows little of substance will come of them other than an agreement to maintain the partnership at ISS through its planned retirement in 2030, the reaction by Russia’s press has been remarkably fawning, repeatedly proposing the U.S. and Russia expand their partnership beyond ISS:

A. Russia, US unwilling to waste achievements of 50-year-long space cooperation - Roscosmos
B. Roscosmos invites NASA to cooperate on projects outside scope of sanctions
C. NASA, Roscosmos heads discuss cooperation in exploration of Moon, deep space
D. Roscosmos chief expects acting NASA director to visit Moscow to continue dialogue

Very clearly, Bakanov was trying to convince Duffy to consider a greater partnership, whereby Roscosmos and NASA do other space projects together. He might have even been offering to join NASA’s Artemis program to explore the Moon.

It appears from the other Russian state-run reports, however, that Duffy’s response was diplomatic but unenthused by such a proposal. All he apparently agreed to was to continue the ISS partnership, until the station’s retirement.

1. Acting NASA chief endorses direct technical talks with Roscosmos - CEO
2. Acting NASA head confirms readiness to continue cross-flights with Russia - Roscosmos CEO
3. Acting NASA head confirms need to maintain ties with Russia - Roscosmos chief
4. Roscosmos chief says he, acting NASA head agree to continue using ISS until 2028

That Russia is now offering to partner with NASA in exploring the Moon tells us that its 2021 partnership with China to develop China’s own lunar base is going nowhere. Russia needs cash and technical support from someone, and it now appears China is unwilling to give it. It is glad to have Russia as a partner, but it isn’t going to depend on Russia for anything, and it apparently isn’t willing to provide Russia any funds for its own lunar efforts. And Russia’s own contribution to that project has been less than nil so far.

So Russia is now looking to NASA and the U.S. taxpayer for help. Since the fall of the Soviet Union Roscosmos has been unable to get much of anything new off the ground. It has only partly finished its half of ISS, and that took one to two decades longer than planned. And it only happened because of U.S. funding. None of its other projects outside of the ISS in the past three decades have gotten much farther than nice PowerPoint presentations.

Roscosmos says it is building Russia’s own space station to replace ISS, but based on its track record in the past quarter century, it is doubtful it has the money or capability of getting it launched. It needs help, and these state-run news articles tell us that it is now lobbying NASA for that assistance.

As long as Russia continues to wage war in the Ukraine, there is not a chance a Trump administration will agree to such a thing. When ISS goes, Russia will be on its own in space. And it is not likely it will be a major player, based on almost everything we presently know about its space program.

https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/russia-desperately-lobbies-the-u-s-to-continue-and-expand-its-space-partnership/

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