Reuters story appearing in WIRED NEWS today:
Moscow, We Have a Problem
Reuters
11:55 a.m. 14.Jan.99.PST
Moscow could lose US$280 million this year if the United States does not allow its firms to expand the number of satellite launches from Russia because of a row over missile technology to Iran, an official said on Thursday.
Russia hoped that Washington would allow it to launch four more satellites than originally agreed, with each launch costing between $65 million and $75 million, said Konstantin Lantratov, a spokesman for the Khrunichev Space Center.
The United States told Russia on Wednesday that it must stop cooperating with Iran's nuclear and missile programs or face curbs on its lucrative space launches of US satellites.
Russia launched the first US commercial satellite in 1996, and nine more have followed since, Lantratov said. The Russians want to boost another 11 into orbit this year, but only seven launches are allowed under an agreement with Washington.
"We had expected the quota would be changed this year," said Lantratov, whose enterprise builds the boosters that launch satellites into orbit.
US State Department spokesman James Rubin said on Wednesday the United States might use the quota as a lever to force Russian cooperation on the Iran issue.
"If we don't get progress on the missile proliferation problem, we are not going to be able to support increasing that quota," he told a regular State Department briefing.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday that American instransigence would hurt American as well as Russian businesses.
"The cessation of this (space) cooperation will be bad not only for the Russian companies -- and of course it will be very bad for Russian companies -- but it will also be bad for the American companies involved," spokesman Vladimir Rakhmanin told reporters.
"It is regretful that some members of the administration of the US have tried to link fruitful and successful cooperation in space technology between our two countries with so-called Iranian programs in Russia," he said.
The United States regulates private American satellite launches abroad by requiring export permits.
The Russian launch market is growing because firms can save millions of dollars over the cost of launching satellites from the United States. The United States makes about two-thirds of the world's satellites.
The business is expected to grow dramatically in the coming years as the need for telephone, television, Internet, pager, and other services expand.
Commercial satellites are a significant source of funding for the Russian space program, which has struggled to meet its commitments to the International Space Station because of inadequate government financing.
Copyright© 1999 Reuters Limited.
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