MOSCOW. Aug 18 (Interfax-AVN) - The food embargo on imposed by Russia in response to the Western sanctions will not reflect on the diet of the Russian cosmonaut who work on the International Space Station (ISS), Viktor Dobrovolsky, director of the Research Institute for the Food Concentrate Industry and Special Food Technologies and chief space food constructor, told Interfax-AVN on Monday.
"We are not buying anything in Europe. All materials used in the production of the food used for making food for the cosmonauts is produced in Russia. We do not use anything imported, only domestic products. We have our own fish, meat, and dairy products," he said.
Dobrovolsky reiterated that no food embargoes will not reflect on the organization of the cosmonaut's nutrition.
He also said the cooling of the political relations between the U.S. and Russia has not reflected on space cooperation, in particular, the supply of food to the ISS crews.
"The sanctions have not affected our cooperation. We continue exchanging food sets. The American astronauts can order our food in the form of additional sets, and our cosmonauts can order American food. No one has cancelled that. The rules remain in place," Dobrovolsky said.
Alexander Agureyev, the head of the nutrition department of the Institute of Medical and Biological Issues of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Interfax-AVN that embargoes will not affect the Russian ISS crew's food.
"We only use Russian-made products," he said.
Agureyev said that the only possible influence is that the embargo may affect some types of foods that the psychological support service sends to cosmonauts as special orders. Such food sets normally include sweets.
The next cargo ship Progress M-25M carrying food for the ISS crew will leave the cosmodrome Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on October 29.
Expedition 40 crew is composed of Steve Swanson (commander, U.S.), Alexander Skvortsov (flight engineer), Oleg Artemyev, Alexander Gerst (European Space Agency), Maxim Suraev (Russia), and Reid Wiseman (U.S.).