Kovalchuk noted the need to preserve and consolidate the technological leadership of the Russian Federation.

Russia must maintain and develop its technological leadership. This was announced on June 19 by Mikhail Kovalchuk, President of the Kurchatov Institute National Research Center (NRC), at the session "Space Technologies — the Future of the Service Economy" at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2025).

He named three key tasks that Russia faces in this area.

"We must preserve and develop, consolidate technological leadership — once. Secondly, we must fully, sustainably, and reliably ensure our national security in the part in which we use space technologies. And third, we must take an important, worthy place in the space services market," he said.

Kovalchuk stressed that in this regard, a national space exploration project was prepared on behalf of the President of the Russian Federation.

In addition, the president of the Kurchatov Institute Research Center clarified that Russia was the first in space. He recalled that first the first flight of a dog was carried out, then the first artificial satellite of the Earth, the first human flight into space, the first woman in space, a spacewalk, a flyby and a photograph of the far side of the Moon.

"By the time the Soviet Union collapsed, no one but us knew how materials behave in space during long-term flight, how certain living beings, humans, and a host of other things behave. That is, we have accumulated a unique experience, which remains the heritage of civilization today," he added.

In particular, Kovalchuk noted Russia's continued leadership in the launch market. According to him, the country has now given way to new leaders, but it has been, remains and will always be the greatest space power.

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Earlier that day, Dmitry Bakanov, Director General of Roscosmos, announced negotiations between the Russian Federation and two countries of the Asia-Pacific region (APR) on the construction of spaceports on their territory. He also stressed that the corporation's international agenda is "very intense."