A new head has been appointed at the Russian space organization Roskosmos. According to a decree issued by President Vladimir Putin on February 6, Yuri Borisov, the organization’s previous leader, was relieved of his duties with immediate effect. He has been replaced by Dmitri Bakanov.
Sources close to the Russian news portal RBC reported that the leadership change came as a surprise to most of Roskosmos’s employees, with one source stating, “Everything happened in one evening.”
The decision is reportedly linked to delays in the construction of the National Space Center in Moscow, which is intended to bring together dozens of Russian space companies under one roof.
Yuri Borisov, who had held the position of Roskosmos’s head since the summer of 2022, previously served as a deputy prime minister for over four years and as a vice-defense minister for nearly six years.
Dmitri Bakanov, 39, is a graduate of the St. Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance and had held the position of deputy transportation minister before being appointed as the head of Roskosmos. Prior to that, he served as the head of Gonez, a subsidiary of Roskosmos responsible for telecommunications, from 2011 to 2019.
Senator Dmitri Rogozin, Borisov’s predecessor as the head of Roskosmos, congratulated Bakanov on his appointment, writing on his Telegram channel, “I congratulate Dmitri Bakanov sincerely on his appointment as the head of Roskosmos. I know him as a very intelligent specialist and an honest person.