The arrested Ukrainian satellite is rusting in Krasnoyarsk
Ukraine does not pay for the storage of its telecommunications satellite “Lybid”, which is located on the territory of the Russian enterprise “ISS” named after. Academician Reshetnev in the Krasnoyarsk Territory.
Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Minister of Development of Strategic Industries Oleg Urusky stated this on air on the Apostrophe Internet channel, PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The satellite was supposed to be launched into space from Baikonur back in 2011, but the creation of the launch vehicle was slowed down after Roscosmos refused to supply the Ukrainian Yuzhmash with an engine for the Zenit rocket without prepayment. In addition, a “budget hole” of $18 million appeared in the project, which also delayed the creation of the rocket.
“After the aggression of the Russian Federation occurred in the east of Ukraine, the device was in the Krasnoyarsk Territory at an enterprise of the Russian Federation, ready for launch. The launch vehicle, not fully produced, was partially located at Yuzhmash, since it is the final manufacturer of the Zenit launch vehicle. The flight control center turned out to be on the territory of Crimea and was supposed to be controlled from Yevpatoria.
Then the issue of an agreement with the Italians was considered that at the first stage their Mission Control Center would be used, and we would create a Mission Control Center, the main one, here in the Kyiv area to replace the Evpatoria one. There were different options to exchange launch vehicles, to launch a Russian satellite with our rocket, and the Russians would launch the Lebed with our rocket from Baikonur, but it didn’t happen.
The satellite is stored in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, at an enterprise of the Russian Federation. No one can control what happens to him. Moreover, storing it there costs an additional resource because that party issues invoices. The Canadian side withdrew from the project due to force majeure, and there is now a lawsuit going on abroad with the Canadian side.
We are not paying anything for now, because fundamentally we need to resolve the issue with this satellite, how it can either be sold to a third party and they will carry out the launch, and we will be compensated for some part of the funds. It is possible to talk about launching it in the interests of Ukraine, but now the opposite side is putting forward new demands that it can only be launched by their launch vehicle, and all this requires clear analysis and understanding,” Urusky concluded.
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