Russia has announced it will pull out of the International Space Station (ISS) after 2024 and focus on building its own orbiting outpost.
The newly appointed head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, Yuri Borisov revealed the news during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin.
Roscosmos also released a blueprint for its own space station on social media, that could accommodate two astronauts, eventually four.
A senior NASA official told Reuters that Russia has not communicated its intent to withdraw from the ISS.
NASA and Roscosmos recently agreed to continue riding Russian rockets and for Russian cosmonauts to use the private US rocket company SpaceX.
The arrangement ensured the ISS would always have at least one American and one Russian onboard to keep both sides of the outpost running smoothly.
In 1998, the first version of the ISS was launched and astronauts from many western nations and Russia have resided there since 2000.
The station was generally seen as a symbol of the post-cold war partnership between Russia and the US.
