10 Apr 2023 14:29

Russia not planning to withdraw from Baiterek project - Roscosmos

MOSCOW. April 10 (Interfax) - The Russian-Kazakh Baiterek project to build a space rocket complex at the Baikonur Cosmodrome is experiencing some issues, but Russia's Roscosmos space agency is not planning to withdraw from it, Roscosmos First Deputy CEO Andrei Yelchaninov said in an interview with Interfax.

"The Baiterek project exists, it's functioning. There have been some issues in its implementation, just as with any major and complicated project, and Roscosmos has been tackling them together with our Kazakh partners. We're not going to pull out of the project," Yelchaninov said.

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

The dispute between the Baiterek joint venture and TsENKI should not affect the implementation of the rocket complex project at Baikonur, the Kazakh Ministry for Digital Development, Innovation and the Aerospace Industry said.

Baiterek is a Russian-Kazakh space rocket complex that is now under construction at Baikonur, where Soyuz-5 rockets are expected to be launched from.

Its construction has been repeatedly delayed due to technical documentation issues, and was due to begin at the end of 2022.

Previously, the first launch of a Soyuz-5 rocket was due before the end of 2023. However, Roscosmos CEO Yury Borisov and Musin have agreed to postpone the first launch to 2024.