Russia’s Cosmonaut Training Center may announce a new recruitment campaign for the cosmonauts’ team this year to involve as many candidates as possible, including women, Center Chief Pavel Vlasov told TASS on Friday.

A final decision on the start of the selection procedure is to be made by Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos, he noted.

"I believe a decision on the recruitment will be made this year and, possibly, it will begin this year and will, possibly, continue into the next year," Vlasov said.

As soon as Roscosmos announces the start of the selection procedure, the Cosmonaut Training Center will try "to maximally disseminate information on the recruitment and draw a maximally possible number of people," Vlasov stressed.

"If all the selected persons are women, there will be no objections and this will not cause anyone’s irritation," he added.

As the Center chief earlier told TASS, the Cosmonaut Training Center was interested in recruiting as many women as possible into the Russian cosmonauts’ team. He added, however, that no artificial criteria will be established for female candidates as they will have to comply with the common requirements set both for men and women.