MOSCOW, March 16. /TASS/. A Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with a Glonass-M satellite has been launched from the Plestesk spaceport in Russia’s northwestern Arkhangelsk Region, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday.

"At 21:28 Moscow time on Monday, March 16, a combat duty unit of the Russian space troops of the aerospace forces conducted a successful launch of a Soyuz-2.1b medium-class carrier rocket with a Glonass-M navigation satellite from the Russian Defense Ministry’s spaceport in the Arkhangelsk Region (Plesetsk spaceport)," it informed.

The Fregat booster with a Glonass-M satellite has separated from the carrier rocket, the Russian defense ministry said.

It was the second Soyuz-2 launch from Plesetsk in 2020. The ministry recalled that Soyuz-2 rockets replaced Soyuz-U rockets which were in operation from 1973 to 2012. As many as 435 Soyuz-U rockets and 44 Soyuz-2 rockets have been blasted off from Plesetsk.