A senior NASA official said on Wednesday that Russia had informed US space officials that it was planning to remain part of the International Space Station (ISS) at least until it builds its own space station.

"We're not getting any indication at any working level that anything's changed," Kathy Lueders, NASA's space operations chief, told Reuters.

Roscosmos Director General Yury Borisov said at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin earlier on Tuesday that Russia’s key priority in space exploration will be to build a Russian space station.

In April 2021, Borisov, who was Russia’s deputy prime minister at that time, said that the ISS was not in good condition and Russia may look into creating its own space station. The Energia Rocket and Space Corporation was tasked with readying the launch of the first module of a would-be Russian station by 2025. It will be a research and energy module that was originally planned to be launched to the ISS.

Roscosmos’ former CEO, Dmitry Rogozin, said in late February that it was quite difficult financially to implement these two projects: the ISS and the new station, simultaneously. He suggested that it would be expedient to ensure a certain "overlapping" period when both stations would be operating. Under the current agreement, the ISS will be operational until 2024. In the spring, the Energia corporation signed a state contract for the development of a concept design of Russia’s future station.