Russia casts doubt on the lunar space station common with the United States: RIA

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Moscow could abandon a plan to build a space station in lunar orbit in partnership with the US space agency NASA because it does not want a "supporting role of violin," said Saturday a Russian official.

Russia agreed last year to work with NASA (NASA) on the plans of the Deep Space Gateway, which will serve as a relay for future missions.

But the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, said that Russia could leave the joint program and propose its own space station project in lunar orbit.

"The Russian Federation can not afford to play the supporting role of a violinist," he said, quoted by the RIA news agency, without further details.

A spokesman for Roscosmos said later that Russia had no immediate plans to leave the project.

"Russia has not refused to participate in the lunar orbital station project with the United States," said Vladimir Ustimenko, quoted by the TASS news agency.

Relations between Moscow and Washington have deteriorated since 2014, after Russia annexed Crimea to Ukraine and was accused of ingesting in the 2016 US presidential election.