NUR-SULTAN. Dec 13 (Interfax) - The Kazakh Senate at a plenary session on Thursday passed a bill on the ratification of the protocol on changes to the lease contract for the Baikonur complex between the government of Kazakhstan and the government of the Russian Federation of December 10, 1994, an Interfax correspondent reported.
The law is thus considered adopted by the parliament in general and has been submitted to the president of Kazakhstan to be signed.
The protocol was signed in Chelyabinsk on November 9, 2017.
In particular, the protocol amends Appendix No. 2 to the Baikonur complex lease contract, which envisages the return of land parcels that have an area of 11,600 hectares removed from the Russian lease.
Kazakh First Deputy Agriculture Minister Aidarbek Saparov said a total of four land parcels have been removed from the lease.
"The returned land parcels will be redistributed for the construction of facilities that have significance to the republic [for the construction of the international transit corridor Western Europe-Western China, the Almaty-Moscow railway station, and the linear part of the Beineu-Shymkent pipeline) and the development of the settlement of Toretam, Karmakshynsky district of the Kyzyl-Orda region," he said.
At the same time, the removal of these land parcels does not envisage a reduction in the annual lease paid by Russia, Saparov said.
He also said the document will not have any socio-economic or legal consequences and will not require the provision of extra funding from the country's budget.
Russia leases the Baikonur complex from Kazakhstan. The complex comprises the city of Baikonur and Baikonur Cosmodrome. The city has a population of over 76,500 people, of which some 60% are citizens of Kazakhstan and some 37% are citizens of Russia. The head of the Baikonur administration is appointed by the presidents of Russia and Kazakhstan.
The city has Russian authorities, including the city administration, municipal enterprises and establishments, and law enforcement structures.
Kazakhstan has a special presidential representative in Baikonur and representatives of its defense and security structures, via whom coordination and interaction takes place between Russian and Kazakh bodies of state authority and ministries.