Kazakhstan has given Russia permission to carry out launches from the Baikonur space center, Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Massimov said on Friday.

Russia and Kazakhstan have failed so far to reach an agreement on a new drop zone for the debris from Russian carrier rockets being launched from the Baikonur space center.

The delay has already prevented Russia from launching a European weather monitoring satellite on May 23, and a cluster launch of Belarusian, Canadian, German and two Russian satellites on June 7.

Kazakhstan insists that in order for the zone to be used the two sides must sign an additional agreement to the Baikonur lease deal, which has to be ratified by the Kazakh parliament.

Source: Voice of Russia