Citing economic turmoil and its affect on the country's space program, Russian officials say they've delayed a decision on Russian utilization of the International Space Station in the future.
However, one senior official downplayed speculation Russia might abandon the ISS in favor of its own national orbiting facility.
"Theoretically it is possible to create a new Russian space station, but neither the current nor future drafts of the federal space program [through 2025] touch on this subject, and any [hypothetical] implementation could be tied in with the continued operation of the ISS," said Sergei Savelyev, deputy director of Russia's space agency Roscosmos.
Some have suggested ongoing tensions over Russia's actions in Ukraine might lead to its withdrawing from participation in ISS missions.
Russia was expected to make a decision in December on its future use of the international space lab, which was launched into orbit in 1998.
NASA has said the space station, built at a cost of $100 billion, would be operated through 2024 but Russia has said it would stop financing it in 2020.
The European Space Agency has yet to decide if it will participate in ISS funding beyond 2020.
In response to Russia's economic woes and the plunge in the value of the ruble -- caused largely be Western sanctions over the Ukraine matter and plummeting oil prices -- Roscosmos says it's been forced to reevaluate its space program for the next decade.
Russian media is reporting any decision on the ISS will be delayed until spring.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said last year that his country only intends to fund and participate on the ISS through 2020, after which his country may choose to "use those resources on other promising space projects."
Savelyev says he predicts Russia will continue to participate in ISS operations beyond 2020, but added it may eventually shift its attention to cooperation with China on that country's own space station, intended to be operational in 2020, while continuing to use the Russian modules of the ISS.
Sixteen countries -- but not China -- are involved in ISS operations, with the United States and Russia providing most of the funding.
Since Congress prohibits NASA from working with China's space agency, any Russian move to create ties with China would complicate matters, since consent of all ISS partner nations would be required for China to participate in ISS missions -- consent not likely to be forthcoming from the United States.
