Kazakhstan wants to recover over 2 bln rubles from Roscosmos subsidiary in favor of JV Baiterek

ASTANA. March 14 (Interfax) - The Arbitration Court under the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC) has ruled to recover over 2 billion rubles from the Center for Operation of Ground Space Infrastructure Facilities (TsENKI JSC) in favor of Baiterek, Kazakh-Russian joint venture, Kazakh Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry Bagdat Musin said.

"There have been certain trials. These are two enterprises. On one side is the Baiterek joint venture, and on the other side is TsENKI. They had certain litigations in the AIFC Arbitration Court, which resulted in a certain decision by the AIFC," Musin told reporters in the lobby of the government on Tuesday.

When asked what decision the AIFC made, he said, "A court decision to recover the amount."

He added, however, that negotiations are ongoing to resolve the issue.

"I reiterate, the ruling has been handed down, but further proceedings will continue. Currently, as far as I know, the TsENKI management is in Kazakhstan, they are negotiating with the company," he added.

The lawsuit amounted to 13.684 billion tenge (the current exchange rate is 0.169 rubles/1 tenge) according to the court ruling published on the AIFC website.

Previously, some media reported that Kazakhstan had seized the property of the Roscosmos subsidiary TsENKI and intended to recover over 13 billion tenge. The materials noted that the trial is related to the failure to fulfill the terms of the contract for the development of a preliminary design of the Baiterek space rocket complex, which the Russian company obtained from the joint venture.

TsENKI JSC is a Roscosmos subsidiary that operates the property of the Baikonur Cosmodrome.