The base in the remote Kazakh steppe "should bring practical use to our country as a partner and collaborator," Kasymzhomart Tokayev said.

"It's extremely important to receive access to the cosmosdrome on the basis of strategic partnership -- we can't be satisfied with the current rental situation," Tokayev told a conference on Russian-Kazakh relations in Kazakhstan's capital Astana.

Baikonur has been the only link to the troubled International Space Station since the disaster of the American space shuttle Columbia last February.

Tokayev's speech came after a visit to Astana earlier this month by Russia's President Vladimir Putin at which the two sides agreed to extend Moscow's lease of Baikonur until 2050.

But amid the ceremonial nature of the visit financial details of the deal were left vague.

With the prospect of major wealth from Kazakhstan's Caspian oil and gas becoming a reality, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has shown signs of wanting his country to assume a greater role in world affairs and no longer being willing to play second fiddle to Moscow.

In particular Kazakhstan would like to put its own communications satellite into orbit, Tokayev said.

Kazakhstan should also be jointly involved in developing Baikonur as the launchpad of the Angara launcher for commercial payloads, which Moscow is developing in partnership with the US firm Lockheed Martin, Tokayev added.

Russia currently pays its ex-Soviet neighbor an annual sum of 115 million dollars (90 million euros), although some of the payment is made through barter of items such as aircraft.

While the two countries retain deep-seated ties overall they have frequently squabbled over Baikonur, with Kazakhstan complaining in particular about possible ecological damage caused by its operations.

For its part Russia has moved much of its military space programme to its own territory since the Soviet Union's collapse.

SPACE.WIRE