The Proton-M rocket, launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, placed the Kosmos-2434 satellite into a designated orbit, the Russian Space Forces said in a statement carried by the Russia news wires.

Russia's space forces chief, Gen. Vladimir Popovkin, said in remarks broadcast by Rossiya state television that the new satellite would provide communications services for the military.

According to official data, Russia currently has about 100 satellites in orbit, two-thirds of which serve military purposes. The nation's satellite fleet shrank in the 1990s amid the post-Soviet money crunch, but Russia's oil-driven economic boom in recent years has provided the government with enough cash to modernize it.


Agencies