In retaliation of the sanctions imposed by the US, Russia decided to stop the supply of rocket engines to the United States.
"In a situation like this, we can't supply the United States with our world's best rocket engines. Let them fly on something else, their broomsticks, I don't know what," head of the Russia's space agency Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin, reports Reuters.
The US, in coordination with allies and partners, had imposed sanctions against Russia, targeting the core infrastructure of the Russian financial system, including sanctions against Moscow's largest financial institutions. It had also slapped sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin and his foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, holding them "directly responsible" for Moscow's "unprovoked and unlawful" invasion of Ukraine.
Rogozin said Russia has delivered 122 RD-180 engines to the US since 1990s, of which 98 have been used to power Atlas launch vehicles.
He said Russia will also stop servicing rocket engines that Roscosmos delivered earlier to the US.
Earlier, Russia had said it was suspending cooperation with Europe on space launches from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana as a response to the sanctions imposed by the Europe over Ukrainian invasion.
