The leak stemmed from a small puncture in the external radiator of the Soyuz MS-22 capsule currently docked at the ISS and due to return the three crew members to Earth in March.
“The expedition of Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin and Francisco Rubio to the ISS is being extended,” Roskosmos said.
“They will return to earth on Soyuz MS-23.
“Soyuz MS-23 launch will be on February 20, 2023 in unmanned mode”.
The launch of the MS-23 was previously scheduled for mid-March.
Soyuz MS-22 will descend to earth without a crew, he said.
Roskosmos said the damage to the radiator pipe was caused by a meteorite.
“The diameter of the hole is less than a millimeter,” he said.
The incident has disrupted the activities of Russia’s ISS, forcing the suspension of spacewalks by its cosmonauts as officials focus on the leaking capsule, which serves as a lifeboat for the crew.
Leakage is also a problem for NASA.
The US agency said last month it was exploring whether SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft could provide an alternative trip home for some ISS crew members, should Russia fail to launch another Soyuz