You're reading: Russia, Kazakhstan argue over space launch pad

MOSCOW — Russia is seeking to resolve a disagreement that has emerged over its lease of a cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. 

On Thursday, Russia’s pro-government Izvestia newspaper quoted a Russian diplomatic note warning that the country would opt out of joint projects with Kazakhstan, if it doesn’t withdraw its demand for Russia to scale down its rocket launches from the Baikonur cosmodrome.

Russia has a lease to use Kazakhstan’s Soviet-built launch pad until 2050 for an annual fee of $115 million, and it has continued to rely on Baikonur for all its manned missions and most of its commercial satellite launches.

On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held talks with his Kazakh counterpart, then told reporters the two nations are working to resolve the issue.