MOSCOW, May 27. /TASS/. The Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle carrying the Glonass-M navigation satellite has blasted off from Russia’s Plesetsk cosmodrome, the Russian Defense Ministry told reporters on Monday.

"On Monday, May 27, at 09:23 Moscow time, the Soyuz-2.1b middle-class carrier rocket carrying the Glonass-M navigation satellite was successfully launched by the Space Force of Russia’s Aerospace Forces from Plesetsk cosmodrome (Arkhangelsk Region)," the ministry said.

All the pre-launch operations and the launch itself proceeded as planned. "The land automated systems of the Russian orbital group carried out control of the launch and flight of the launch vehicle," the Defense Mionistry noted.

This is the first Soyuz-2 launch from Plesetsk cosmodrome in 2019.

Flight tests of the Soyuz-2 launch vehicles began at Plesetsk in the autumn of 2004. A total of 37 launches of the Soyuz-2 carrier rockets have been carried out over the past 14 years.