Russian space agency chief says: "Foreign forces are sabotaging Russia's space program!"

Despite the lack of further and clearer elaboration, MSM is jumping to point out the USA as the target of the Roscosmos chief's comments, what seems to be the most logical hypothesis as long as the US government is the only interested in slow down the Russian space program. Specially if we observe the timing between the failure of Phobos-Grunt and the launch of Curiosity...
Though I wouldn't dismiss the hypothesis of the Russian commentary could be referring to another "foreign forces", the same ones that busted Phobos 1 and 2 in the '80s...

Some recent Russian satellite failures may have been the result of sabotage by foreign forces, Russia's space chief said Tuesday, in comments apparently aimed at the United States.
Roscosmos chief Vladimir Popovkin stopped short of accusing any specific country of disabling Russian satellites, but in an interview in the daily Izvestia he said some Russian craft had suffered "unexplained" malfunctions while flying over another side of the globe beyond the reach of his nation's tracking facilities.
Popovkin spoke when asked about the failure of the $170-million unmanned Phobos-Ground probe, which was to explore one of Mars' two moons, Phobos, but became stranded while orbiting Earth after its Nov. 9 launch. Engineers in Russia and the European Space Agency have failed to propel the spacecraft toward Mars, and it is expected to fall back to Earth around Jan. 15.
Roscosmos spokesman Alexei Kuznetsov refused to elaborate on Popovkin's comments, which marked the first time a senior Russian government official has claimed that foreign sabotage has been used to disable one of the country's satellites.
Popovkin said modern technology makes spacecraft vulnerable to foreign influences.
"I wouldn't like to accuse anyone, but today there exists powerful means to influence spacecraft, and their use can't be excluded," he said.

Read more: www.foxnews.com...

I bet its China because we have a pretty decent relationship with the Russians and their space program. China would like to be the leader in space.

If something is discovered to place the United States at blame, that would be that. They would have an uprising on their hands, not to mention a war. I doubt it is any kind of sabotage, Russia has never been ace with their space program. However, I would see further cause to investigate if China or India begin to have failures.

Aliens perhaps?

Hmmmm.... the most powerful country in space at this time....

A country with 50 stars and some stripes on its flag... for sure.

Originally posted by Patriotsrevenge
I bet its China because we have a pretty decent relationship with the Russians and their space program. China would like to be the leader in space.

Really?? So the Chinese, who by the way had a probe hitching a ride with Phobos-Grunt, sabotaged the Russian space program and lost the chance of get in Mars???

Originally posted by AaronWilson
If something is discovered to place the United States at blame, that would be that. They would have an uprising on their hands, not to mention a war. I doubt it is any kind of sabotage, Russia has never been ace with their space program. However, I would see further cause to investigate if China or India begin to have failures.

China hitched a ride on Russia's failure, because China has a probe aboard Phobos-Grunt. Whoever sabotaged Phobos-Grunt, hit Russia AND China with one bullet.

So - they have no communication with this thing, they do not know why it failed and it is yet to crash.
How do they know that it was sabotaged?
Because it failed while on the other side of the globe and when no tracking by Russia was possible..
This is pretty cool explanation. Obviously it is US job. It clearly could not be poor design.
Recent Russian history with failed launches is there for everyone to see, it is very very far from 100 percent success.
Only this year:
August:

A Russian cargo rocket ferrying three tons of food and fuel to the International Space Station broke down about five minutes after it blasted off on Wednesday, completing its flight by arcing into a Siberian forest rather than achieving orbit.

December

A Russian satellite on Friday crashed into Siberia minutes after its launch due to rocket failure, the defence ministry said, in the latest humiliating setback for Russia’s embattled space program.

news.nationalpost.com...
Siberia is on the same side of the globe, isn't it?
Took me few seconds to find on google, there might be more cases.
Russian space program is a continuation of Soviet space program and Soviet generation of scientists is going away. Add to it continuing immigration to West of younger scientists (look who took Nobel this year) and wide spread corruption and it is pretty clear why this is the way it is.
But of course nobody can say it openly ,so when one's ass is on fire due to multiple failures it is time for good old paranoia excuses.

reply to post by AaronWilson

Russia has never been ace with their space program.

Not even as a joke does that statement have any meaning. Russians have been first in almost everything in space, except the man on the moon, and near Earth they are unbeatable. Russian technology has proven itself time and time again, even after the collapse of the USSR, NASA took no time to extract all they could from them...