There is still cooperation between Russia and the US on the ISS

For less than a second on Monday, the symbolic key hung weightless between the American and the Russian. Then the ship bell sound and Sergei Kud-Sversjkov had taken command of the International Space Station (ISS) from Mike Fincke.

NASA astronaut Fincke returns to Earth early with three other crew members because one of the four has serious medical problems. It has not been announced which of the four is involved and what the medical problem is. After landing off the California coast, scheduled for Thursday at 9:41 am Dutch time, the ISS crew still consists of three people: an American and two Russians.

Russian-American cooperation within the International Space Station (ISS) is the most visible exception to the freeze in bilateral relations following the large-scale Russian attack on Ukraine in February 2022. In August 2025, NASA and Roscosmos agreed to continue joint operations of the station at least until 2028, including the permanent presence of both countries in space.

This also includes the so-called ‘cross flights‘, with Russian cosmonauts traveling to the ISS on American commercial spacecraft, such as those from SpaceX, and American astronauts traveling and flying on Soyuz capsules.

During the Cold War, scientific cooperation was part of the so-called ‘détente’, the period of reduced tension between the capitalist West and the communist countries, which formed the core of the foreign policy of President Richard Nixon (1969-1974) and his successor Gerald Ford.

Space scientists also worked together at that time, for example in Apollo-Soyuz test project (1975), in which spacecraft of those two types docked in space. In the 1970s there was also some cooperation in the medical field (research into cancer, heart disease and vaccines) and in the fields of oceanography and meteorology. Bilateral scientific consultation on weapons systems also played an important role in the negotiations on the nuclear arms control treaties SALT I and SALT II (1972-1979).

Nuclear fusion

In addition to space travel, there is only international cooperation nuclear fusion organization ITERwhich is developing a plasma reactor in the south of France. The scientists from 35 participating countries include Americans and Russians. The European Union will bear almost half of the costs, with China, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the US each paying an equal share. In November last year there was delivered a Russian-built vacuum tanka crucial component for diagnostic tests.

Russia and the US are also part of the Arctic Council, along with six other countries bordering the Arctic and representatives of indigenous peoples living there. The council has been discussing economic, scientific and social themes since 1996 and changes its chairman every two years; It was Russia from 2021 to 2023.

In their last final statement (May 2025) Council members reaffirmed their “commitment to maintaining peace, stability and cooperation” in the Arctic and recognized changes in the region due to global warming. But a series of geopolitical tensions and American reluctance among ‘Trump-1’ and ‘Trump-2’ to acknowledge the ‘human’ factor in temperature rise make such statements largely symbolic.

Both countries would still share data and observations on weather and ice formation via existing international platforms.

Nuclear warheads

The American-Russian nuclear arms control treaty New START formally still exists, but will expire on February 5 if there is no (temporary) extension. The treaty, signed in 2010, binds Moscow and Washington each to a maximum of 1,550 nuclear warheads, spread across intercontinental missiles in silos and submarines, and aboard strategic bombers. It followed START I (1991) and START II (1993).

Since Russia suspended New START in 2023, there have been no mutual inspections of arsenals. Without extension exists fear of a new nuclear arms race.

Russia and the US still trade with each other despite the sanctions. The total value in goods and services was according to official US figures $3.5 billion in 2024, a quarter less than the year before. The US imports more than it exports: mainly raw materials and chemicals that are not covered by sanctions on energy, military matters and luxury goods.

There is no longer any cooperation in sports. At their summit in Anchorage, Alaska, in August last year, Trump and Putin reportedly discussed ice hockey matches between Russian and American clubs, but none have yet taken place.

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