International Cooperation as the Main Focus of the Modernized Russian Space Industry.

This year the world celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Space Age and 50 years of the Outer Space Treaty. International cooperation has been a crucial factor in the development of the world space community since the very first steps of space exploration and remains one of the most challenging conditions for its success today and in future. Owing to a long-standing tradition, international cooperation has always been at the core of the then Soviet and the modern Russian space policy and law. This article presents an analysis of the modern Russian legislation and key political documents in the area of space activities with a focus on international cooperation. Special attention is given to the recent changes in the national political and regulatory regime resulting from an ongoing fundamental reform of the Russian space industry in response to the main international initiatives (safety and long-term sustainability of space activities, non-placement of weapons in outer space, space debris mitigation, etc.) and new global trends of space activities (prospects of extraterrestrial resource mining, space traffic management, global space governance and others). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]