ASTANA. April 8 (Interfax) - Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov will meet with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow on April 15 to discuss the joint use of the Baikonur Space Center.
The sides will discuss the implementation of the Kazakh-Russian roadmap for the joint use of the Baikonur Space Center in 2014-2016, Kazakh First Deputy Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev told a press briefing at the president's Central Communications Service in Astana on Tuesday.
He said the prime ministers would also discuss Russia's compensation for the damage Kazakhstan sustained from the Proton LV accident.
Russia's Proton-M LV blasted off from the Baikonur 81st launch site on July 2, 2013, with three Glonass-M satellites onboard. It sharply deviated from the designated trajectory almost immediately after takeoff, fell into pieces in mid-air, hit the ground and exploded. The rocket was fueled with approximately 600 tonnes of heptyl, amyl and kerosene at the moment of the explosion.
The Kazakh Environmental Protection Ministry assessed the damage at over 13 billion tenge (the current exchange rate is 182.03 tenge to the dollar).
Sagintayev said in mid-March that the question of Russia's compensation for the damage done to Kazakhstan in last year's Proton accident was dragging on.