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Kazakhs Dissatisfied after Rocket Crash
Russian and Kazakh government commissions have reached an agreement on the sum of the compensation Russia will pay Kazakhstan for the crash of a Proton-M carrier rocket on September 6. Although Kazakhstan initially demanded $60.7 million, Russia was able to have that sum reduced to $2.5 million. In its dissatisfaction, Astana is threatening to halve the number of launches of rockets with toxic fuels in 2008 from eight to four and make Russia bear the losses from broken contracts for commercial launches.
Insurance companies will pay $800,000 and Khrunichev Space Center will pay $1.7 million, according to a source, who added that negotiations were heated. Kazakh Minister of Emergency Situations Vladimir Bozhko, who headed the Kazakh commission commented that the Russians demanded hard evidence for all losses. The accident with the carrier rocket occurred 135 seconds after takeoff from the Baikonur space center on September 6. Wreckage from the rocket and a Japanese JCSat-11 satellite fell 40-50 km. southwest of the town of Zhezkazgan.
The Kazakhs demanded compensation to pay for the monitoring of the health of local residents for three years, to obtain special medical equipment, to compensate for agricultural lands that would lay fallow in the “threat zone,” compensation for ecological damage and for general aid to the residents of Karaganda Region. They were only able to document losses of $2.5 million, however, so that is the amount Russia has agreed to pay. The sides are to reach their final agreement before the end of the year.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 19, 2007
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