Roscosmos released a report on its work for 2017. Ukraine, sanctions and “dumping” of SpaceX were blamed for the problems

The state corporation admitted that due to sanctions it was unable to purchase “high-quality equipment.”

Roscosmos published a work report for 2017, in which it explained the failure to fulfill the plan and the launch failures by delays from Ukraine, the “weak ruble” and the activities of SpaceX. Among the achievements are “maintaining Russia’s leading position” in the space launch market, the creation of its own orbital constellation and the construction of facilities at the Vostochny cosmodrome.

The table attached to the document provides justifications for deviations from the planned indicators. For example, in 2017 it was assumed that Russia would take a 24.5% share of global rocket and space technology exports, but Roscosmos fulfilled only a third of the plan .

The reason for the failure was the sanctions of Western countries - they prevented the Russian spacecraft from being equipped with “high-quality imported equipment”, as well as the weakening of the ruble.

Of the 25 devices in 2017, Roscosmos was able to launch only 17, excluding four military missions. In three cases, launch failures were explained by delays on the part of Ukrainian manufacturers in the production of the launch vehicle or components.

In 2017, Russia's share in the production of space technology reached 7.1% instead of the planned 7.7%. This was explained by a reduction in budget funding .

According to Roscosmos, the decline in Russia’s competitiveness was also influenced by private companies from the United States, primarily Elon Musk’s SpaceX with Falcon rockets . The report notes that companies entered the launch services market “with the assistance of the state” and with “dumping” prices .

On November 6 , it became known that Kazakhstan had chosen SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket for its next launch instead of the Soyuz because it was cheaper. According to media reports, the country paid only $1.3 million for this, although the launch of a Falcon 9 usually costs $62 million, and the use of the Russian Proton-M rocket costs $70 million.

In the summer of 2018, the head of the Accounts Chamber, Alexei Kudrin , said that 40% of all budget violations in 2017 occurred at Roscosmos. The department's inspections formed the basis for several criminal cases against employees of the NPO Lavochkin and RSC Energia enterprises.

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