MOSCOW, December 21. /TASS/. A Proton-M carrier rocket was launched from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on Friday to put into orbit a satellite for the Russian Defense Ministry, the ministry’s press service said.

All pre-launch procedures and the blastoff proceeded as normal.

"At 03:20 Moscow time on Friday, December 21, a heavy Proton-M carrier rocket with a spacecraft for the Russian Defense Ministry was launched from the Baikonur space center (Kazakhstan)," the press service said.

"The upper stage of the Proton-M rocket, comprising the Briz-M booster and the Russian Defense Ministry’s spacecraft, separated as scheduled, at 03:30 Moscow time," the Defense Ministry said.

Putting the spacecraft into the designated orbit will take several hours.