Russian President Vladimir Putin signed federal law ratifying agreement between Russia and Kazakhstan on cooperation in using the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, Putin’s press service reported.
The accord was signed in January last year in the Kazakh capital, Astana. Alongside extending the lease contract for the launch site until 2050, the two sides agreed to develop and build the Baiterek environmentally-safe rocket complex at Russia’s Angara center. Infrastructure will be funded by Kazakhstan. Russia and Kazakhstan also agreed on joint environmental projects. Russia will pay $115 million a year to lease Baikonur.
The state duma lower house of parliament ratified the agreement on May 25 and the federation council upper chamber approved it on June 8. More than 70 percent of Russia’s space launches are made from Baikonur.
On June 6, the government approved a proposal by Russia’s state space agency to launch a number of spacecraft from Baikonur. These included AKS-1 and AKS-2 (Russia), EgyptSat-1 (Egypt), SaudiComsat 1 to 7 (Saudi Arabia), and five containers with 14 CubSat craft (U.S., Norway, South Korea, Japan).
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed federal law ratifying agreement between Russia and Kazakhstan on cooperation in using the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, Putin’s press service reported. 
