Although NASA has suspended cooperation with Russia, it still plans to retain a number of joint projects, including the ISS, the news chief for Media Services in External Relations at NASA, Allard Beutel, told the RIA Novosti news agency.

NASA said last week it was suspending cooperation with Russia over the situation in Ukraine, with the exception of the ISS and meetings at international events in third countries. But the Roskosmos Russian Space Agency said on Friday that the US had softened its stand on space cooperation with Russia.

According to Beutel, NASA will also go ahead with joint research projects, including four missions involving the use of Russian instruments, the Bion programme and the attendance of the 40th international conference on space exploration in Moscow.

Beutel said that NASA has suspended the planned short-term study of a likely Russian mission to Venus, a meeting on space monitoring of the Siberian taiga and joint wind-tunnel testing in Russia.

++ US Department of State softens stance on NASA-Russia cooperation - Roscosmos

The Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) is not stopping dialogue with its US partners and the position of the US Department of State on cooperation with Russia has softened, Roscosmos Deputy Director Sergei Savelyev said, according to Interfax.

"We are not halting dialogue with NASA. At the beginning of this week, a NASA official said during contacts with us that the position of the Department of State had softened," Savelyev told reporters in Moscow on Friday.

He recalled that NASA last week issued an internal regulation restricting its interaction with Russia, with the exception of the ISS. "We have such information," Savelyev said.

Source: Voice of Russia