MOSCOW, August 18. /TASS/. The Russian government has instructed the Finance Ministry to transfer 2.3 billion rubles ($39 million) to the State Space Corporation Roscosmos for the operation of the Vostochny spaceport, according to the government’s resolution posted on the legal information web portal on Friday.
The sum has been allocated from the funds set aside for outer space exploration, the materials say.
"The budget appropriations stipulated for the Finance Ministry under the spending sub-item ‘Outer Space Exploration and Use’ under the ‘National Economy’ item pursuant to the classification of budget expenditures shall be channeled in the amount of 2,321,657,000 rubles to the State Space Corporation Roscosmos to pay for the government contract in 2017 for making purchases from the sole contractor of works (services) for the operation of ground-based space infrastructure facilities and maintaining the functioning of the facilities of the Vostochny cosmodrome’s supporting infrastructure," the document says.
The Vostochny spaceport in the Amur Region in the Russian Far East has been under construction since 2010. Last year, the first launch from the cosmodrome’s launch pad took place and the construction of its second stage is planned for 2018.
Russia’s Federal Agency for Special Construction (Spetsstroy) was earlier in charge of the spaceport’s construction; however, it was later abolished due to the numerous complaints of customers and the bodies of power about the time limits of fulfilling the works and the financial discipline of enterprises subordinate to Roscosmos. Specifically, a large number of violations during the construction of the Vostochny spaceport was highlighted.