Kazakhstan Seizes Roscosmos Property, Demands 2 Billion Rubles Debt Repayment

Kazakhstan has taken control of the property of the Center for the Operation of Terrestrial Space Infrastructure operating in Baikonur spaceport, as per local media reports.

The report cited the country’s court bailiff service. The property belongs to TsENKI Center for Operation of Space Ground-based Infrastructure, a subsidiary of Russia’s Roscosmos State Corp.

Kazakhstan intends to recover from the space agency a debt of 2 billion rubles ($26.3 million). The head of the company is forbidden to leave the country, the reports said.

Moscow-based Moskovsky Komsomolets (MK) speculated that sanctions against Russia could be the reason behind seizing of the property, as Kazakhstan is not able to use Russian missiles for commercial launches.

MK editors reportedly had a notice on the initiation of enforcement proceedings and the measures against the agency to extract debt in favor of Baiterek Joint Kazakh-Russian Venture. This decision was made by the court of the Astana International Financial Center. The writ of execution was issued at the end of November 2022, AKIpress News Agency reports.

The resulting conflict could lead to Russia's withdrawal from Baikonur.

According to kz24.news, the main reason for Kazakh’s action was incorrect behavior and harsh statements by new head of Roscosmos Yuri Borisov. The issue was about criticism of the delay in the launch of the launch pad - a project that is being handled by Deputy Minister of Communications of Kazakhstan Bagdat Musin, who is responsible for the space direction. In turn, Musin called Borisov's criticism a "diplomatic miscalculation".