Bharti-backed British satellite company OneWeb suspends Baikonur launches

British satellite company OneWeb said on Thursday it was suspending all launches from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan after Moscow's space agency demanded guarantees that its spacecraft would not be used for military purposes.

The British government, which owns a stake in OneWeb, said it supported the decision. "In light of Russia's illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, we are reviewing our participation in all further projects involving Russian collaboration," the government said.

A Soyuz rocket carrying 36 OneWeb satellites had been due to launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Russia's space agency Roscosmos had demanded guarantees the spacecraft would not be used for military purposes.

OneWeb, which will offer broadband via a constellation of 650 satellites, was rescued from bankruptcy by Britain and Bharti Global in 2020. Eutelsat and SoftBank have also invested.

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