(Reuters) – Russia’s area company on Saturday dismissed Western media studies suggesting Russian cosmonauts becoming a member of the International Space Station (ISS) had chosen to put on yellow fits with a blue trim in support of Ukraine.

“Sometimes yellow is simply yellow,” Roscosmos’ press service stated on its Telegram channel.

“The flight fits of the brand new crew are made in the colors of the symbol of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, which all three cosmonauts graduated from … To see the Ukrainian flag in every single place and in every thing is loopy.”

Roscosmos Director-General Dmitry Rogozin was extra acerbic, saying on his private Telegram channel that Russian cosmonauts had no sympathy for Ukrainian nationalists.

In a live-streamed information convention from the ISS on Friday, veteran cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev, the mission commander, was requested concerning the fits.

“Every crew picks a color that appears completely different. It was our flip to select a color,” he stated. “The reality is, we had amassed so much of yellow material, so we would have liked to make use of it up. That’s why we needed to put on yellow flight fits.”

Russia invaded Ukraine, which has a blue and yellow flag, on Feb. 24. The ensuing combating has killed hundreds of individuals, devastated components of cities and precipitated hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians to flee their houses, based on the United Nations.

Rogozin has steered that U.S. sanctions imposed in response to the invasion may destroy ISS teamwork and result in the area station falling out of orbit.

Officials on the U.S. area company, NASA, have stated U.S. and Russian crew members are conscious of occasions on Earth however that their work has not been affected by geopolitical tensions.

(Writing by Kevin Liffey; Editing by Helen Popper)