The Clipper has been designed to fly to and from the International Space Station and take crews to spacecraft being assembled in orbit as parts of future manned missions to the Moon and Mars.
Crucially, co-operation with Russia would give Europe some independence in manned space flight. At present, the European Space Agency (ESA) - of which Britain is a key member - has to request seats on US or Russian spacecraft.
'We have to go cap in hand and say, "Please, sir, can we put one of our people in space" and often get told no,' said Alan Thirkettle, of the ESA's directorate of human spaceflight. 'Europe is going to have to take the next step and develop a way to put men and women into space on our own. The alternative will be to sit back and watch countries like China get to the Moon while we do nothing.'
If Europe decides to join Russia's Clipper project, a proposal to be outlined before the ESA council in the next week, it will mark a turning point in relations among space powers.
Europe has usually allied itself with the US in setting up space projects but has become disappointed with the behaviour of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa). For example, the delay in resuming space shuttle launches after the Columbia disaster in 2003 has cost the ESA £100m in maintenance costs for the space station sections it has built and which should have been put into orbit by now.
In addition, the agency's administrators have become irritated by the bureaucratic attitude of Nasa officials who have threatened to refuse European astronauts full access to some space station equipment on the grounds that this might contravene US technology-transfer laws.
As a result, the ESA has been quick to respond to an approach from the Russians to co-operate in the development of a new space vehicle, which it has decided to build to replace its fleet of Soyuz capsules designed more than 40 years ago. Current design costs are estimated at around £3 billion, and Russia is keen to share the burden. It has asked Japan to join and may also approach India and Canada.
Unlike the space shuttle, the Clipper would carry no cargo, and is intended only to put men and women in space. 'This will be a people carrier, it is as simple as that,' said Thirkettle.
The Clipper plan will not be cheap, however. It is estimated that it will cost the ESA an extra £100m a year for the next decade to participate in the Clipper programme.
Not every nation will be willing to provide its share of the cash. France, Germany and Italy will most likely be enthusiastic. But Britain will probably decline. For the past two decades the UK has refused to put money into manned space programmes and as a result has no representatives among the ESA's 14-strong astronaut corps.
The key decision on Europe's future involvement in Clipper will be made in December when European government ministers responsible for space will meet to decide whether to commit to the project.
'I am fairly confident they will say yes,' said Daniel Sacotte, the ESA's director of human space flight. 'It's not just that Clipper is a good political deal or provides us with a powerful piece of technology. It will give us a vision, a scientific goal that young Europeans badly need today.'