The war in Ukraine has been "exceptionally challenging for Russia's aerospace community," the British Defense Ministry tweeted from London on July 2 in its daily update on the conflict. "The sector is struggling under international sanctions; highly trained specialists are being encouraged to serve as infantry in the Roskosmos space agency's own militia," it said referring to Russia's aerospace body. It noted that the head of the Russian Aerospace Forces, General Sergei Surovikin, had not been seen since the abortive mutiny by the Wagner Group of mercenaries, for which he had served as a "point of contact with the Russian Ministry of Defense."
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RFE/RL has been declared an "undesirable organization" by the Russian government.
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