The British-Indian consortium Oneweb no longer wants to launch its satellites for the planned broadband Internet from space from Baikonur in Kazakhstan for the time being. This was announced by the company, which since 2019 has already had around 430 satellites with Russian Soyuzplaced rockets in Earth orbit on Thursday. Oneweb was responding to Russian demands for a legally binding guarantee by Friday evening, Moscow time, that the Oneweb satellites would not be used for military purposes. Furthermore, Great Britain is to give up its shares in Oneweb. Otherwise, a launch planned for this Saturday will be cancelled, according to the threat from the Russian space agency Roskosmos, which manages Baikonur. She justifies this with “Britain’s hostile attitude towards Russia”. London also imposed sanctions on Russia after Russian troops invaded Ukraine.
The British government took over Starlink competitor Oneweb in 2020 together with the Indian group Bharti Global from an insolvency. “The British government is not selling its stake,” Economics Minister Kwasi Kwarteng has now declared. Oneweb had signed contracts with the French provider Arianespace for its Soyuz launches, including from the European launch site Kourou in French Guiana and from Baikonur. Originally, Oneweb satellites should also work with the new Ariane 6 start, but the first flight of the Esa rocket is delayed.