Russia dismisses reports that cosmonauts' yellow and blue flight suits referred to Ukraine

There were reports that three of Russia's cosmonauts wore yellow and blue flight suits on the International Space Station.

The cosmonauts wore bright colored flight suits with blue patches similar to the colors of the Ukrainian flag as they boarded the space station on Friday. With Russia currently in the midst of an brutal war on Ukraine, the choice of clothing raised questions among the media on whether they were showing support for the Ukrainian people.

The media reports of a connection to Ukraine and the flight suits were a joke, according to a Telegram post by the officials.

The flight suits are in the colors of Bauman Moscow State Technical University, where the three cosmonauts studied.

According to a UPI news report, the Russian Academy of Sciences sewed together the flight suits about six months before the launch. Artemyev wore a yellow and blue flight suit during a mission to the International Space Station.

The head of the Russian space agency, Dmitry Rogozin, wrote on the social networking site that "under no circumstances will we force graduates of Bauman University not to wear the colors of the coat of arms."

On Friday, Artemyev, Matveev, and Korsakov were launched to the space station by a Russian spaceship. The trio docked at the space station a few hours later to begin their mission.

A crew that includes four American astronauts, two other Russian cosmonauts and one European Astronaut is already on the station.

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