Russia is planning to build its space station and will stop sending cosmonauts to the International Space Station (ISS) by 2024. The country’s space chief has said, in a move that will end a symbolic two-decade orbital partnership between Moscow and the west.

Yuri Borisov, the newly appointed head of the space agency Roscosmos, said during a meeting with Vladimir Putin that Russia would fulfil its obligations to its partners on the ISS before leaving the project.

“The decision to leave the station after 2024 has been made,” Borisov said, to which Putin responded: “Good.”

The news comes just days after NASA and Russian space agency Roscosmos agreed on a deal to allow Russian astronauts to take trips to the ISS in SpaceX’s Dragon capsule.

Yuri has made a plan to be independent of the west. Russia is going to have a Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS). “We will continue the manned program in accordance with the approved plans,” said Borisov. “The main priorities will be made on the creation of the Russian orbital station.”

There are currently seven astronauts on the ISS—three Russian cosmonauts, three NASA astronauts and one European Space Agency astronaut.

The next crew rotation is scheduled to be on September 21 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, when the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft takes Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin (Roscosmos) and Frank Rubio (NASA) to the ISS.

On September 29, 2022 when NASA and SpaceX plan to launch the Crew-5 mission from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada (NASA), Koichi Wakata (JAXA) and Anna Kikina (Roscosmos).

It will be the first time a cosmonaut has launched from the U.S. on a SpaceX vehicle.

The mixed trips are the result of a deal struck to enable astronauts from each agency to hitch rides on the other’s spacecraft. It was one of Borisov’s first acts as head of Roscosmos. “The agreement is in the interests of Russia and the United States and will promote the development of cooperation within the framework of the ISS program,” read a statement

The ISS was launched in 1998 and astronauts have been living on it since 2000, it was a symbol of unity between Russia and the US as both superpowers were miles ahead of everyone in the space department. Speaking in 2001 alongside the then US president, George W Bush, Putin lauded the ISS as an example of “very successful” bilateral ties between the two countries.

Roscosmos uploaded an image on its social media, a blueprint for its orbiting station. Russia is planning to accommodate two Russian astronauts at first, eventually expanding to four.

Space cooperation was one of the things that weren't affected by the ongoing war between Russia and the US. The sudden migration of American companies from Russia and a long list of sanctions has affected the Russian ability to trust the American institutions.