When Yuri Borisov, the Russian deputy prime minister in charge of the military industry, announced that Russia would withdraw from the International Space Station (ISS) project and set up a national orbital station starting from 2025, this made sensational news. Apparently, the announcement came as a surprise not only to Russia’s partners in the ISS, but also to Roscosmos itself. A few days earlier, the head of the Russian ISS segment had said something completely different. One of the arguments cited by Borisov was the poor condition of the Russian segment (well-known cracks in the hull of the Zvezda module), although the prevailing opinion in December 2020 was that the station could operate until 2030.
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