NUR-SULTAN. Nov 20 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan no longer intends to be a party to an intergovernmental agreement with Russia on interaction during rocket launches from the Dombarovsky launch area in Russia's Orenburg region, which envisages the use of a plot of land in Kazakhstan as a drop zone for detaching rocket stages.
The relevant decree of the Kazakh government of November 19, 2020 has been published in the country's information and legal system of legislative acts.
"The Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Kazakhstan [shall] notify the government of the Russian Federation as established by the legislation of the intention of the government of the Republic of Kazakhstan to no longer be a party to the agreement between the government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the government of the Russian Federation on interaction during the launch of rockets from the Dombarovsky launch area using a plot of land in the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan as a drop zone for their detaching rocket stages, which was reached in Astana on October 15, 2015," the decree reads.
The decree entered into effect the day of its signing.
The agreement was signed following Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Kazakhstan in November 2015. As reported, in accordance with the document, Kazakhstan would temporarily grant Russia its territory for $460,000 a year.
Russian expert and Space Policy Institute Scientific Director Ivan Moiseyev said he believes Russia's renting this plot of land is no longer relevant, because no civilian space launches have been conducted from this launch area in the past few years.
"It's a matter for the military. Space objects haven't been launched from this base [Dombarovsky] for a long time, about five years. Apparently, this is just a statement of the fact that no launches are performed or planned, so there's no need to pay rent," Moiseyev told Interfax on Friday.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry's website, the Dombarovsky launch site belongs to the Yasny division of the Strategic Missile Forces.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in December 2018 that a successful launch of the new strategic missile system Avangard with a hypersonic warhead had been performed from the Dombarovsky launch area.
A Dnepr conversion carrier rocket based on the RS-20 intercontinental ballistic missile ('Satan' in the Western classification) carrying satellites was previously launched from the Dombarovsky area.