The launch of the first joint ESA-Roscosmos mission to the Red Planet serves partly as a response to the “stupid political” anti-Russian sanctions, according to Alexey Novikov, spokesman for the Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos.

In an interview with Sputnik, Alexey Novikov, spokesman for the Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos, described the launch of the first joint ESA-Roscosmos mission as a kind of response to the “foolish political” anti-Russian sanctions.