Obstacles for future Soyuz vehicles

25 August 2004: Long Arm of Foreign Policy, Washington Post

“Also off the table is the possibility of buying Soyuz spacecraft through intermediaries or negotiating a new barter agreement. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Steven Pifer told Congress last year that such tactics “would likely be viewed by many as an evasion of the law.”

NASA is pursuing the possibility that additional Soyuz might be available under the existing agreement, which authorizes the United States and Russia to trade goods and services “for the life of the station,” but it is far from clear whether this wording would admit Soyuz purchases beyond the original 11.”