Russia refuses to launch UK satellites unless government agrees to demands, space agency says

Russia will refuse to launch UK satellites unless the government agrees to its demands, its space agency has said.

Roscosmos is due to launch a host of satellites this week on behalf of OneWeb, a firm part-owned by the UK government, in a deal agreed before the escalation of tensions. It has become something of a test of whether international co-operation in space will continue amid growing aggression on the ground.

Russia had already said that it would only launch the satellites if OneWeb would guarantee that they would not be used for military purposes. Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos, also said in the same TV interview that OneWeb had paid in full for the launch and Russia would keep that fee whether the launch went ahead or not.

Now Roscosmos has announced new demands, requiring that the UK government sell its stake in the firm before the launch can go ahead on 5 March.

“Due to the UK’s hostile stance towards Russia, another condition for the launch of OneWeb spacecraft on March 5 is the withdrawal of the British government from the shareholders of OneWeb,” the Russian space agency said in a tweet.

The UK government acquired its stake in OneWeb in 2020, as part of a reorganisation after the company went bankrupt.

OneWeb hopes to use an array of satellites to allow for fast internet connections to be provided worldwide, in a similar way to that enabled by SpaceX’s Starlink.

Both OneWeb and the UK government have yet commented on whether they expect or want the launch to go ahead.