Russia’s space agency on Saturday dismissed claims suggesting that three Russian cosmonauts boarded the International Space Station wearing Ukrainian colors.

Several Western media reports suggested that the choice of color a possible statement against Russia, which began its invasion of Ukraine last month.

“Sometimes yellow is just yellow”, Roscosmos’ press service said on its Telegram channel. “The flight suits of the new crew are made in the colors of the emblem of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, which all three cosmonauts graduated from… To see the Ukrainian flag everywhere and in everything is crazy”.

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Roscosmos Director-General Dmitry Rogozin made a scathing attack saying that  Russian cosmonauts had no sympathy for Ukrainian nationalists.

The men were the first new arrivals on the space station since Russia launched its offensive against Ukraine last month. They were warmly welcomed on board, hugging and greeting their fellow American, Russian and German crew, BBC reported. 

The ISS is a joint project between Russia, America, Canada, Japan and several European countries.

Russian cosmonauts Denis Matveyev, Oleg Artemyev and Sergey Korsakov docked at the ISS after a three-hour flight which blasted off from a Russian-owned facility in Kazakhstan in their Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft. They joined two Russians, four Americans and a German on the orbiting outpost. 

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The standard-issue Russian uniform is plain blue, and at least one of the men was seen wearing this before take-off.

“It became our turn to pick a colour”, Artemyev said when he was asked about the suits in a live-streamed press conference. “We had accumulated a lot of yellow material so we needed to use it”, he joked. “That’s why we had to wear yellow”.

The science mission on the ISS is set to last just over six months. They will replace three current crew members who are scheduled to fly back to Earth on March 30.