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Russia says US astronauts could be hurt by Ukraine sanctions
« on: April 29, 2014, 05:20:15 pm »
http://news.yahoo.com/us-reviving-iron-curtain-policies-russia-094611975.html


Russia says US astronauts could be hurt by Ukraine sanctions
AFP
By Anna Smolchenko, with Michel Moutot in Lugansk, Ukraine 2 hours ago

Moscow (AFP) - Russia warned Tuesday that American astronauts on the International Space Station could be hurt by new US-led sanctions over the escalating crisis in Ukraine, where pro-Moscow militants seized more public buildings in the east.

Washington was resorting to "Iron Curtain" policies from its Cold War-era playbook with the new Western sanctions, which were driving the Ukraine crisis towards "a dead end", Moscow raged.

A day after the United States and its EU and Japanese allies unveiled fresh punitive measures for what was seen as Russian interference in Ukraine, violence worsened on the ground.

Thousands of pro-Moscow protesters in the city of Lugansk near the Russian border seized control of the regional administrative building, trapping around 200 riot police in the complex's courtyard. Militants in the city already held the local SBU security services building.

Ukrainian media reported that rebels also seized the town hall in the nearby town of Pervomaisk, adding to more than a dozen sites held by pro-Kremlin insurgents. On Monday, gunmen took control of the town of Kostyantynivka.

There was also no sign of progress in negotiations by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe to free seven of its inspectors being held by pro-Kremlin rebels.

The US embassy said the OSCE abductions and a violent attack Monday by pro-Russian militants armed with knives and bats on pro-Kiev demonstrators in the east Ukraine city of Donetsk were acts of "terrorism, pure and simple".

- Sanctions a 'boomerang' -

Moscow reacted with fury to the inclusion in the sanctions of high-tech exports to Russia and threatened reprisals.

"If their aim is to deliver a blow to Russia's rocket-building sector, then by default, they would be exposing their astronauts on the ISS," Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said, according to the Interfax news agency.

"Sanctions are always a boomerang which come back and painfully hit those who launched them," added Rogozin on a visit to Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in March.

The International Space Station is operated jointly by Russia, the United States, Europe, Japan and Canada. Astronauts and cosmonauts depend on Russian Soyuz rockets to ferry them between it and Earth, ever since NASA scrapped its space shuttles in 2011.

A Russian deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, admitted in an interview with online newspaper Gazeta.ru that the US curb on high-tech exports was a "blow".

"This is a revival of a system created in 1949 when Western countries essentially lowered an 'Iron Curtain', cutting off supplies of high-tech goods to the USSR and other countries," he said.

Russia's foreign ministry also slammed the European Union for "doing Washington's bidding" as the bloc included General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff of the Russian armed forces and the country's deputy defence minister, on a list of 15 Russians and Ukrainians targeted by an asset freeze and travel ban.

And it vowed that Japan's decision to deny visas for 23 Russian nationals "will not be left without a response"

The EU and Japanese blacklists are part of a G7 sanctions assault started by Washington on Monday with measures announced against seven Russian officials and 17 companies close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Washington and its allies accuse Russia of fomenting and controlling the separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine to prevent the new Western-backed government in Kiev exercising its authority.

The EU's top foreign policy official, Catherine Ashton, voiced alarm at "the downward spiral of violence and intimidation" in Ukraine.

As fears continued of an imminent Russian invasion, NATO Tuesday said there was no sign tens of thousands of troops on the border were withdrawing despite the Russian defence ministry claiming they had pulled back to barracks.

Ukraine and EU countries dependent on Russian gas, meanwhile, were worried Moscow's reprisals could hit the vital energy supply.

- Violence in east Ukraine -

The US embassy in Ukraine denounced a "savage" attack on Monday by pro-Moscow militants wielding bricks, bats and knives against a rally in the city of Donetsk calling for Ukrainian unity. Fourteen people were wounded, some seriously.

Meanwhile, a mayor in east Ukraine's biggest city of Kharkiv, Gennady Kernes, critically wounded when shot in the back Monday by an unknown gunman, was flown to Israel for medical treatment.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu repeated assurances that Moscow had no plans to invade in a telephone conversation with his US counterpart Chuck Hagel, the Pentagon said.

Shoigu urged Washington to tone down its rhetoric.

But Hagel called for an end to Russia's "destabilising influence inside Ukraine" and warned more pressure would be applied if it continued.

The US defence secretary also asked for Moscow's help in securing the release of the seven OSCE inspectors held by pro-Russian militants in Slavyansk.

An AFP journalist in Slavyansk said early Tuesday there was still no sign of the captive inspectors leaving the occupied town hall, where they were being kept under armed guard.

Kiev's soldiers are surrounding the flashpoint town in a bid to prevent reinforcements reaching militants there.

- More sanctions ready -

The fresh Western sanctions are a response to Russia's perceived failure to implement an April 17 deal struck in Geneva to defuse the crisis by disarming militias and having them vacate occupied public buildings.

"Russia has so far failed to implement any part of the Geneva agreement," said British Foreign Secretary William Hague, who plans to visit Ukraine as well as Moldova and Georgia next week.

Among those targeted by the US sanctions is the president of Rosneft, Russia's top petroleum company and one of the world's largest publicly traded oil companies.

The EU said talks with Russia and Ukraine will take place in Warsaw Friday to try to resolve a $3.5-billion gas bill Gazprom calculates Kiev owes. Putin has threatened to cut off the gas flow to Ukraine if it is not quickly paid.

The crisis has accelerated since February, when Ukraine's Kremlin-backed president Viktor Yanukovych was forced to flee after months of increasingly bloody mass street protests by pro-Western demonstrators.
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Re: Russia says US astronauts could be hurt by Ukraine sanctions
« Reply #1 on: April 30, 2014, 04:50:27 am »
Its an international station and nothing going to happen. I believe that they are 9 individuals on board. There is a Soyuz lifeboat on the ISS in case of an emergency.There ways to get food and water to the station by using the Space X(Falcon 9) or the Ariane booster rocket if the Russians cut supplies from Kaputsin Yar.

http://www.arianespace.com/launch-services-soyuz/soyuz-introduction.asp
http://www.spacex.com/falcon9
« Last Edit: April 30, 2014, 06:12:42 am by SPQR »

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Re: Russia says US astronauts could be hurt by Ukraine sanctions
« Reply #2 on: April 30, 2014, 05:45:06 am »
Its an international station and nothing going to happen. I believe that they are 9 individuals on board. There is a Soyuz lifeboat on the ISS in case of an emergency.There ways to get food and water to the station by using the Space X(Falcon 9) or the Ariane booster rocket if the Russians cut supplies from Kaputsin Yar.

If push comes to shove, you can always throw them out the door.

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Re: Russia says US astronauts could be hurt by Ukraine sanctions
« Reply #3 on: April 30, 2014, 05:55:50 am »
A small correction, my friend - there are only ever 6 on board, maximum. Each of the two Soyuz escape capsules attached can carry 3 in an emergency, and with some considerable discomfort!
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Re: Russia says US astronauts could be hurt by Ukraine sanctions
« Reply #4 on: April 30, 2014, 05:56:34 am »
If push comes to shove, you can always throw them out the door.


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Re: Russia says US astronauts could be hurt by Ukraine sanctions
« Reply #5 on: April 30, 2014, 05:58:06 am »
A small correction, my friend - there are only ever 6 on board, maximum. Each of the two Soyuz escape capsules attached can carry 3 in an emergency, and with some considerable discomfort!
Youre right
 :thumbsup2:
« Last Edit: April 30, 2014, 06:05:04 am by SPQR »

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Re: Russia says US astronauts could be hurt by Ukraine sanctions
« Reply #6 on: April 30, 2014, 06:07:33 am »
Youre right

I have been lucky enough to be in a Soyuz capsule. Not in orbit, obviously, but one that was used for training after it were recovered. They are bloody tiny! I swear all Russian pilots/cosmonauts are about 5 foot tall! I'm not big by any stretch of the imagination - 6 foot 3 and 180 lbs or so - and I could barely wedge myself in to one of the seats. The guide said I had to take the center seat - sitting on either side would make the capsule spin! :laugh:
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Re: Russia says US astronauts could be hurt by Ukraine sanctions
« Reply #7 on: April 30, 2014, 06:13:17 am »
I have been lucky enough to be in a Soyuz capsule. Not in orbit, obviously, but one that was used for training after it were recovered. They are bloody tiny! I swear all Russian pilots/cosmonauts are about 5 foot tall! I'm not big by any stretch of the imagination - 6 foot 3 and 180 lbs or so - and I could barely wedge myself in to one of the seats. The guide said I had to take the center seat - sitting on either side would make the capsule spin! :laugh:

I have seen one too.Its rather primevial compared to Western standards.
« Last Edit: April 30, 2014, 06:20:00 am by SPQR »

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Re: Russia says US astronauts could be hurt by Ukraine sanctions
« Reply #8 on: April 30, 2014, 06:21:28 am »
I have seen one too.

From memory - they are about 2/3 the size of a Gemini and half the size of an Apollo. Those I have only seen - went to Houston once and spent a full day in the museum, including a live feed from a shuttle mission. Hey - once the flying bug bites, you want to go faster and higher! Don't get much faster than escape velocity!
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Re: Russia says US astronauts could be hurt by Ukraine sanctions
« Reply #9 on: April 30, 2014, 06:23:18 am »
From memory - they are about 2/3 the size of a Gemini and half the size of an Apollo. Those I have only seen - went to Houston once and spent a full day in the museum, including a live feed from a shuttle mission. Hey - once the flying bug bites, you want to go faster and higher! Don't get much faster than escape velocity!

I have only seen the Apollo capsule. Go to Edwards AFB to see some real machines. My uncle works at the base so I get to see the planes there.
« Last Edit: April 30, 2014, 06:26:13 am by SPQR »

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Re: Russia says US astronauts could be hurt by Ukraine sanctions
« Reply #10 on: April 30, 2014, 06:30:17 am »
I have only seen the Apollo capsule. Go to Edwards AFB to see some real machines. My uncle works at the base so I get to see the planes there.

When the Shuttle was landing back in the 1980s at Edwards, I always had VIP passes for the tour and the free condiments they would hand out.

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Re: Russia says US astronauts could be hurt by Ukraine sanctions
« Reply #11 on: April 30, 2014, 06:32:26 am »
I have only seen the Apollo capsule. Go to Edwards AFB to see some real machines. My uncle works at the base so I get to see the planes there.

That is on my bucket list, as is the graveyard. I've been in a SR-71 (very long and boring story and no, the pilot didn't let me take stick, we were traveling about 5 times faster than I am used to) but I do love anything that flies.
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Re: Russia says US astronauts could be hurt by Ukraine sanctions
« Reply #12 on: May 02, 2014, 03:26:17 am »
That is on my bucket list, as is the graveyard. I've been in a SR-71 (very long and boring story and no, the pilot didn't let me take stick, we were traveling about 5 times faster than I am used to) but I do love anything that flies.

Their museum is a great place to go. If you climb up high enough you will see a compass in the sand
« Last Edit: May 02, 2014, 03:28:58 am by SPQR »

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Re: Russia says US astronauts could be hurt by Ukraine sanctions
« Reply #13 on: May 02, 2014, 05:09:57 am »
I'm not big by any stretch of the imagination - 6 foot 3 and 180 lbs or so

6'3 is pretty tall. haha
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