Russian space agency denies it threatened to strand US astronaut to die alone in space

dailystar.co.uk:

Russia's space agency has denied it threatened to leave a US astronaut stranded alone in orbit while on a mission. Mark Vande Hei is currently aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and according to reports from news outlets, he was going to be deserted following alleged threats from the head of the agency.However, it has since been reported that the allegations are not true and the astronaut will still be able to return to Earth on a Russian spacecraft, reports Live Science.Vande Hei is set to return on March 30, 2022, after enduring 355 consecutive days in Earth's orbit following the launch of his mission on April 9 last year, NASA confirmed.Arrangements will see the American land in Kazakhstan alongside Russian cosmonauts, Flight Engineer Pyotr Dubrov and Commander Anton Shkaplerov on the Soyuz MS-19 crew ship.

A number of news outlets reported that Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russia's Space Agency, threatened to leave him on the ISS after President Joe Biden launched a new set of sanctions in response to Russia's full-scale invasion against Ukraine.

The claims circulated after a video was uploaded on February 26, which was then shared by a Kremlin-aligned publication, RIA Novosti, reports Ars Technica.Roscosmos TV, the station of the Russian Federal Space Agency, supplied footage for the clip but highlighted that the video was a "joke," Ars Technica reported.That same video comically implies that Putin's country may even detach its portion of the ISS from the US side of the space station, on top of stranding Vande Hei.But on Friday, March 11, a spokesperson for NASA squashed the claims and told The StarTribune that "On March 30, a Soyuz spacecraft will return as scheduled carrying NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei.