Russia's ISS Cooperation with US 'Pointless' - Deputy PM

Russia does not see a point to take part in the International Space Station (ISS) after 2020, Deputy PM Dmitry Rogozin said.

He explained Moscow does not need continued cooperation on the project after 2020, when the country's commitments expire, as the ISS "would absorb 1/3 of the budget of [space company] Roskosmos".

Russia would not leave the project prior to 2020 and will fulfill its task to bring US astronauts to the station until that year, as ITAR-TASS quoted Rogozin as saying.

As of the station's activities, he described them as "just flying around the earth".

The Deputy Prime Minister voiced serious doubts whether the ISS project could continue after the end of the decade.

He also stressed that Russia was taking ideas of space cooperation with China into consideration.

Negotiations with Beijing over possible bilateral projects in the field have been scheduled for end-June.

Rogozin's comments come more than a month after the US suspended space cooperation with Russia on all project except for the ISS as a response to the Ukrainian crisis.