New Russian Cosmodrome - Vostochniy

The Russian Ministry of Defense may independently complete the Vostochny spaceport

According to the newspaper "Vedomosti" in the material of Ivan Safronov, "the Ministry of Defense can independently complete the Vostochny spaceport. Instead of PSO “Kazan,” a company specially created for the army’s needs may become a construction contractor, ”the problems of building the Vostochny spaceport will be discussed this week with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and President Vladimir Putin. According to people close to the government apparatus and the presidential administration, the prime minister will hold an introductory meeting with cabinet members on September 2 in the White House (his spokesman Oleg Osipov did not comment on this information), and the president will discuss the accumulated problems on September 6 directly at Vostochny (his press secretary Dmitry Peskov confirmed the fact of preparing the visit to the cosmodrome to Vedomosti).

In both cases, in addition to the financial issues of Roscosmos, we will talk about the pace of building a launch pad for the Angara space rocket complex (part of the second phase of the Vostochny), as well as completion of infrastructure facilities of the first stage (launch pad for the Soyuz launch vehicles -2 "), a senior government official said. And according to the results of the meeting, the president can decide on the replacement of the existing construction contractor - the production and construction association (PSO) Kazan - with the public-construction company Military-Construction Complex, which is now being created in the structures of the Ministry of Defense, say two federal official.

Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov, who oversees the government in the space industry, in an interview with Vedomosti, did not rule out that the Defense Ministry’s industrial complex could become Vostochny’s contractor. The Ministry of Defense did not respond to a request from Vedomosti; Roscosmos declined to comment.

The contract between Roscosmos and PSO Kazan for the construction of a second launch pad at Vostochny was signed on October 3, 2018, although initially the proposal to attract this company to work was formulated by the previous management of the state corporation headed by Igor Komarov (now Presidential Envoy in the Volga-Urals Federal District) back in 2017, it took time to agree on the parameters of a contract worth 38.7 billion rubles, the signing of which was postponed eight times and took place after the appointment of Dmitry R as head of Roskosmos gozina.

The launch facility is built on the basis of 10 launches of Angara rockets of heavy and light classes per year, construction work should be completed by 2022. According to an employee of the government apparatus, at the time of the selection of the main contractor for the PSO Kazan construction site, it really met all the necessary parameters: it had a sufficient number of workers and equipment, had experience in the construction of complex facilities (such as stadiums in Samara and Saransk, where the 2018 World Cup matches were held), as well as the support of the former leadership and Tatarstan (according to RBC, in the 2000s. "Kazan" was a part of TAIF Group, controlled by the family of the first president of the republic Mintimer Shaimiev). The PSO also secured the support of the current president of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov, who personally vouched for Kazan during the construction of the facility and even promised to introduce a post in the republican government responsible for the construction of Vostochny, Kommersant wrote.

At the initial stage, the construction stalled: the financial problems of the PSO affected, which had to spend its own funds for the timely completion of the stadiums, in addition, the Federal Tax Service (FTS), through a court, demanded that Kazan be declared bankrupt and exposed it to debts of about 2 billion rubles.

In January 2019, Yuri Borisov allowed the contract to be broken with Kazan, but then the Federal Tax Service and PSO signed a settlement agreement, and the first equipment and builders were sent to Vostochny. Breaking the contract under those conditions would be suicide, a federal official admits: despite the fact that the CEO of Roskosmos Dmitry Rogozin agreed with the president a list of four companies capable of starting the construction of Vostochny, neither Crocus Group Aras Agalarov nor Stroygazmontazh Arkady Rotenberg and neither Stroytransgaz Gennady Timchenko agreed to work due to difficulties with settlements and pricing. And the work was continued by Kazan: the site for the launch site of the Angara was cleared, work was being completed in the foundation pit, and its pouring with concrete began.

According to Vedomosti, this pace does not suit the government: they believe that much more workers and equipment should be involved in the construction in order to prevent the timing of the first launch of Angara from Vostochny outside of 2023 ( It was originally planned to launch in 2021). In this connection, an option arose to attract the military,

A series of corruption scandals, cost overruns and mishaps at Russia’s new Vostochny Cosmodrome have brought long-simmering questions about the leadership of the country’s space agency into public view.

“The situation is unacceptable for everyone, including the construction of the first stage and the second stage” of the space center, Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov told Vedomosti newspaper in an interview published Monday, adding that the Defense Ministry may take over part of the work.

Borisov, formerly a powerful and secretive official responsible for procurement at the Defense Ministry, became deputy prime minister last year in place of Dmitry Rogozin, who was appointed to head Roscosmos by President Vladimir Putin. While Russia views the cosmodrome as a national security priority, with its current Soviet-era launch base located at Baikonur in neighboring Kazakhstan, the $3 billion project has been plagued by controversy.

Rogozin, who’s frequently highlighted the threat posed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX venture to Russia’s launch industry, quickly took to Twitter to defend himself. “It’s always been this way: some build, while others criticize,” Rogozin wrote. “It’s part of the business.”

Splits within the Kremlin elite have become more visible since Putin’s re-election last year to what may be his final presidential term under Russia’s constitution, amid jostling by rival factions. Last month, for example, Rostec State Corp. chief Sergey Chemezov, a longtime Putin ally and fellow spy, contradicted the official line that recent Moscow election protests should be put down forcefully, warning instead that the country risked stagnation without a healthy opposition.

Putin ordered Russia’s Investigative Committee to examine construction at Vostochny during a visit to the space center after a planned first rocket launch was delayed in 2015. Months earlier, workers who hadn’t been paid for months went on hunger strike and appealed to Putin for help by painting a message on the roof of their barracks.
The Prosecutor General’s Office has opened a series of criminal cases after uncovering 10 billion rubles ($150 million) in losses during construction at Vostochny. In one sparkling example of corruption, a contractor accused of stealing 4 million rubles was detained in Minsk, Belarus, while driving a Mercedes covered in Swarovski crystals.

While the space center went into operation in 2016, officials uncovered a critical defect on one of Vostochny’s launchpads as recently as last November, RBK news website reported. In 2017, a satellite launch failed after the rocket was programmed with coordinates for takeoff from another launchpad.

Alexei Kudrin, the head of Russia’s Audit Chamber, told lawmakers last year that he had found 760 billion rubles ($11.4 billion) of financial violations in Roscosmos’s books, including several billion that had been “basically stolen,” describing the space agency as “the champion in terms of the scale of such violations.” Roscosmos said the criticism related to a 2017 audit, before Rogozin’s appointment.

Rogozin, who was responsible as deputy premier for the space industry, threatened in 2015 to “rip off the heads” of construction staff involved in corruption after Vostochny risked having its electricity cut off over unpaid bills, according to the Interfax news service.

Big_Gazza wrote:...Then there is this little gem:

While the space center went into operation in 2016, officials uncovered a critical defect on one of Vostochny’s launchpads as recently as last November, RBK news website reported. In 2017, a satellite launch failed after the rocket was programmed with coordinates for takeoff from another launchpad.

Maybe someone should tell this genius that Vostochny only has one launch pad. If they can't get basic facts right, why bother reading their BS?

miketheterrible wrote:

PapaDragon wrote:

Big_Gazza wrote:...Then there is this little gem:

While the space center went into operation in 2016, officials uncovered a critical defect on one of Vostochny’s launchpads as recently as last November, RBK news website reported. In 2017, a satellite launch failed after the rocket was programmed with coordinates for takeoff from another launchpad.

Maybe someone should tell this genius that Vostochny only has one launch pad.  If they can't get basic facts right, why bother reading their BS?

He was being subtle when he said that rocket was programmed with coordinates for different launch pad because in reality those morons loaded up coordinates for completely different spaceport (Baikonur)

Author is being way too forgiving

No he isn't.

He clearly made shit up as we mentioned. That is unforgivable. Either tell the truth or don't say anything at all.

PhSt wrote:

Construction of second stage of Vostochny spaceport goes ahead as scheduled - Roscosmos

MOSCOW, November 23. /TASS/. The construction of the second stage of Vostochny spaceport goes ahead according to the schedule, Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, said at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin on Saturday.

"Up to now, we have employed more than 1,260 staff and 140 vehicles, which is fully in accordance with the project of construction. The schedule is being kept despite the fact that it is rather cold there," Rogozin said.

Roscosmos head added that he himself oversees the construction work every month.

Roscosmos monitors construction of the second stage of Vostochny spaceport with the help of its satellite constellation, Rogozin said.

"We took a decision to apply the technology Roscosmos has, namely our Earth remote sensing satellite constellation, for objective control," he said.

According to Rogozin, the satellite surveying helps to record changes at the construction site throughout a week and "then the data is mathematically processed and markers show any changes. Among them is the amount of work and the number of equipment and even people."

The Roscosmos head pointed out that the space agency conducts additional aerial surveys with the help of drones in order to detail the data. He added that the state-run corporation receives "the entire amount of objective reports" about how construction is going ahead.

The Vostochny spaceport in the Amur Region in the Russian Far East is the first national civilian space center. Large-scale construction work to build the spaceport’s infrastructure and technical facilities started in 2012.

The Vostochny spaceport’s construction was accompanied by numerous problems. According to the data of the Prosecutor General’s Office, a total of 17,000 various violations were exposed during the construction of the Vostochny Cosmodrome in 2014-2018 and 140 criminal cases were opened while total damage was estimated at 10 billion rubles ($150 million). Dozens of individuals were convicted under various counts of Russia’s Criminal Code, including former head of Dalspetsstroi (the general contractor for the spaceport’s construction in 2009-2016) Yuri Khrizman.

https://tass.com/science/1092165