VLADIVOSTOK, September 7. /TASS/. Moscow is determined to maintain cooperation with Washington in space, if some "smart guys" in the United States don’t meddle, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the full-scale session of the Eastern Economic Forum on Thursday.
As he dwelt upon the theme of developing Russia’s Far East, he recalled that a new Russian spaceport had already gone operational in the region.
"The first rocket launches from the cosmodrome have been carried out. Within several years from now it will be the first major civilian spaceport in Russia from where we will be exploring deep space, launching manned flights and so on and so forth. We hope to do so in cooperation with the United States, provided some ‘smart guys’ in various American establishments do not meddle," Putin said.
He remarked there was certain interest in such work, for instance, in the joint exploration of Mars by 2030.
On the list of projects that might be launched or were already in progress in the Far East Putin mentioned Russian-Korean shipbuilding contracts. Russia places shipbuilding orders with Korean shipyards and together with South Korea it is building a shipbuilding plant called Zvezda.
Putin said he would go to that construction site on Friday, September 8. The shipyard was crucial to building support ships and drilling rigs.
"That’s what we need and what our partners need. There is no competition involved. It’s the other way round. The synergy of our efforts benefits all, because everybody is interested in having these energy resources. Besides, shipbuilding is a high-tech sphere," Putin said.