NASA has reportedly removed Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev from the Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) scheduled to take off next year. Artemyev is accused of violating the US ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) – the law that that restricts dissemination of sensitive information to safeguard national security.
Artemyev was part of NASA‘s four-member Crew-12 mission which is targeted for launch no earlier than February 15. Russian space agency Roscosmos has confirmed his removal from the crew without addressing the reports, announcing cosmonaut Andrei Fedyayev as his replacement. “This decision was made due to Oleg Artemyev’s transfer to another position,” said Roscosmos.
Notably, neither NASA nor SpaceX has publicly confirmed the allegations.
Artemyev accused of leaking classified information
According to The Insider, charges against Artemyev are grave. The cosmonaut, who was training at SpaceX’s headquarters in California’s Hawthorne, allegedly photographed sensitive documentation and used his phone to export classified information last week. The claims were made by rocket launch analyst Georgy Trishkin citing internal sources.
“My contacts confirm that a violation occurred and an interdepartmental investigation has been launched. Removing someone from a mission two and a half months before the mission without a clear explanation is more of an indirect sign, but it’s indicative,” Trishkin told The Insider. “It’s very difficult to imagine a situation in which an experienced cosmonaut could inadvertently commit such a gross violation.”
Artemyev is a veteran with three long-duration space missions to his name. He has spent a total of 560 days in microgravity across launches in 2014, 2018 and 2022.
Past controversy
Artemyev is not new to controversy. In 2022, after Russian forces invaded Ukraine, Artemyev was accused of using the space station for anti-Ukraine propaganda.
With two of his fellow cosmonauts, Artemyev posed with flags of the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic – the two Russian-backed separatist regions that Moscow had been trying to seize from Ukraine and now occupies following its invasion.
This move drew intense criticism from Russia’s international partners – NASA, the Canadian Space Agency and the European Space Agency (ESA). Josef Aschbacher, Director General of ESA, condemned the photo op calling it “unacceptable” and reminded the purpose of the ISS that is “to conduct research and prepare us for deeper exploration.”
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