Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome unaffected by western economic sanctions: Report

The economic sanctions imposed by Western countries on Russia for invading Ukraine has no effect on the Baikonur Cosmodrome, says Konstantin Busygin, head of the local administration. According to Russian state-owned media house TASS, he said that the sanctions have not deterred operations of the space complex because it is "a territorial entity of the Republic of Kazakhstan". 

However, he admitted that the sanctions have caused the Russian currency Ruble to plummet which has caused a rise in inflation. "The commercial department that is in charge of these issues managed to explain to entrepreneurs the need to comply with the existing legislation", he added as per TASS. The Baikonur administration head also revealed that the local prices, which remained high for a week, were brought back in control. This comes, after Russian space agency Roscosmos' Director-General had already stated that the Russian space program will not be much affected by the sanctions.

This was in response to US President Joe Biden's announcement of sanctions in February wherein he blocked the supply of advanced technologies warning that this would "degrade" Moscow's space programs. On the contrary, Rogozin shared a post on Twitter on May 31, announcing the installation of the Soyuz-2.1 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Late last month, Roscosmos even invited school students from the Donetsk and Luhansk region and gave them a tour of the museums of the "cradle of world cosmonautics" in the Kazakhstan-based space complex.

Russia to use Baikonur till 2050

It is worth noting that Kazakhstan, where lies the city Baikonur, was once part of the USSR that disintegrated in 1991. This disintegration sprouted 15 independent nations, along with Russia, one of which was Kazakhstan. However, Russia continues to utilise its past relations through an agreement signed by Russian and Kazakh Presidents Boris Yeltsin and Nursultan Nazarbayev, respectively on March 28, 1994. Under this agreement, Kazakhstan agreed to lease the launch complex in the city to Russia for an annual rental payment of $115 million.

Last year, with the approval of Kazakhstan's parliament, this lease was extended to 2050 with a few conditions citing environmental concerns. This leasing of the launch complex is a huge source of revenue for Kazakhstan as it has earned over $3 billion since the signing of the agreement, according to Eurasianet's report.