MOSCOW, March 16,  /ITAR-TASS/. A Proton-M carrier rocket with two communications satellites on board successfully blasted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, at 03:08 Moscow time on Sunday, a spokesman for the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) told Tass.

The Briz-M booster separated from the Proton-M carrier rocket with two communications satellites on board nine minutes after the launch at 03:08 Moscow time. 

The booster separated at 03:17 Moscow time, to deploy the two communication satellites to the target orbit in accordance with the timeline, he added.

Express AT-1 and Express AT-2 telecommunication satellites were made by the Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems in cooperation with the French company Thales Alenia Space for Space Communications under the Russian Federal Space Programme for 2006-2015.