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Russia will cut its military presence on the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov was quoted as saying Sunday. Russia would decrease its military contingent to 2,800 people by 2007 as fewer and fewer military launches were being held in Baikonur, Ivanov told the RIA-Novosti news agency. "If we have launches only once every four or five months, there is no need to keep so many people there. The number of troops we have there is actually too much," the minister . Baikonur would continue to host Russian military launches, although most would be shifted to the military cosmodrome at Plesetsk, Ivanov said. Russia had been leasing Baikonur from Kazakhstan since 2004. The annual 115 million-dollars (94 million-euro) lease allows Moscow to launch from the cosmodrome through 2050. The cosmodrome - which is 125 kilometers (75 miles) long and 85 kilometers wide and stations some 80,000 employees - borders the Syr Daria river and is wholly administered by Russia. All rights reserved. © 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse. Related Links SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express 
Baiterek Space Complex Agreement Must Be Ratified Soon: Minister
Astana, Kazakhstan (SPX) Oct 06, 2005Today during the sitting of the Committee for International Affairs, Defense and Security the deputies have studied and recommended to pass the draft law on ratification of the Kazakhstan-Russia Agreement on Creation of Baiterek Space Complex at the spaceport Baikonur. |
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