MOSCOW, August 24. /TASS/. Russia’s Space Troops have successfully launched a Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket from the Plesetsk spaceport with a spacecraft in the Russian Defense Ministry’s interests, the ministry reported.

"At 5:40 a.m. Moscow time [2:40 a.m. GMT] on Monday, August 24, a combat team of the Aerospace Forces’ Space Troops successfully launched a Soyuz-2.1b medium-class carrier rocket with a space vehicle in the interests of the Defense Ministry of Russia from the Defense Ministry’s State Test Cosmodrome (the Plesetsk spaceport) in the Arkhangelsk Region," the report said.