Russian space intelligence collapses due to sanctions – GUR

That’s according to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense (GUR), Ukrinform reports.

After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Joint-Stock Company Academician Mykhailo Reshetnyov Information Satellite Systems came under international sanctions.

According to the information obtained by Ukraine’s military intelligence, Russian designers and researchers, among other things, are developing at the strategically important defense facilities the so-called “big eyes” – tools for space reconnaissance. In particular, this is about the promising Repey project of high-orbit SIGINT system, the Gerakl-KV complex of the global space command-relay system, and the Sfera unified third-stage satellite communication system.

The company is located in the restricted area, the city of Zheliznohirsk (Krasnoyarsk Territory, Russian Federation).

“Production of key elements of the listed objects has been de facto stopped due to an acute shortage of electronic components of both foreign and Russian production. It is about the absence of hundreds of thousands of equipment elements for space modules. As a result, the scheduled deadlines for the completion of the scientific and research works of the specified space intelligence systems were disrupted and ‘postponed’ for several years,” the statement reads.

The projects were postponed for several years. In particular, the Repey deadline was moved from 2022 to 2024, Gerakl-KV – from 2023 to 2025, and Sfera – from 2025 to 2027.

Ukrainian intelligence added that due to sanctions and mobilization, several more branches of the Russian economy will soon be at risk of ceasing to exist.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, the European Union plans to introduce the 10th package of Russia sanctions on the anniversary of the full-scale invasion, while sanctions against Belarus will be introduced a bit earlier.