SoylentNews

Leebert [soylentnews.org] writes:

NBC has an interesting article [nbcnews.com] about a subtle diplomatic trick that might be underway to force the United States into a catch-22 over recognition of the Russian annexation of Crimea.

Apparently, a Russian press report mentioned the possibility of moving Soyuz crew-survival training to a naval base in Crimea. US astronauts must pass this training to qualify for flight aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, which is currently the only way for a manned mission to access the ISS.

The catch is that when traveling to Crimea for the training, astronauts would not request Ukrainian visas, resulting in the US government implicitly recognizing the change in diplomatic status of Crimea. Not traveling would be an automatic failure of the training, which would disqualify the astronauts from traveling aboard the Soyuz craft as per agreements between NASA and the Russian Space Agency.

Well played, Russia.

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