Russia currently uses two launch sites for space carrier rockets and ballistic missiles tests: the Baikonur space center in the Central Asian Republic of Kazakhstan, which it has leased since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the Plesetsk space center in northwest Russia.
Last November President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to construct a new space center, to be named Vostochny, in the Amur Region.
"I urge you to regard the construction of a new space center as a priority. But at the same time we must not neglect the Baikonur [space center] and continue its use until 2050," Anatoly Perminov said, addressing senior space officials.
But in Kazakhstan, Moscow has faced frequent compensation demands for environmental damage caused by launches or rocket crashes. In the fall of 2007, the Central Asian state briefly imposed a ban on Proton launches from Baikonur after a rocket crashed September 6.
First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said in January that Russia needed to have "independent access" to space and said Roscosmos should focus on building the new Vostochny space center, which is set to start this year.
"By 2016, the space center must be able to launch rockets of any type, and in 2018 manned spacecraft should be launched from there," he said.
Ivanov said that in 2006 Russia launched a total of 26 carrier rockets, a figure that rose to 45 in 2007, adding the number of launches was set to rise further this year.
