Kazakhstan wants Russia to pay $90 million in damages for Proton crash

Kazakhstan is seeking $90 million dollars from Russia in compensation for a rocket crash on its territory, azh.kz reported on Friday, citing the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources of Kazakhstan.

“The Ministry of Environment and Water Resources of Kazakhstan assessed the economic damage from the environmental pollution, caused by the accident of “Proton-M” carrier rocket that took place on July 2, 2013 at Baikonur launching complex. Calculation was made according to “The rules of economic assessment of damage from environmental pollution”. The amount for environmental damage made 13 690 747 305 tenge”, reads the Ministry report. 

The invoice has been sent to the Federal Space Agency of the Russian Federation (Roskosmos) via diplomatic channels for their consideration and compensation of the damage. The work is coordinated from the Kazakhstan party by KazCosmos, the authorized body in the field of space activity, as per the Baikonur complex lease contract between the governments of Russia and Kazakhstan.  

“Now the Russian side is discussing whether the amount for the damage, calculated by the Kazakh experts, is acceptable. We are waiting for the response from Russia”, - said Bektas Mukhamedzhanov, the Vice-Minister of Environment and Water Resources to NGO representatives during the Civil forum in Astana.  

To recall, on September 6, a Proton-M rocket was launched from the Baikonur space center, which Russia leases in Kazakhstan. However, engine malfunction and second-stage separation failure led to its crash 40 kilometers ( 25 miles) southeast of the town of Zhezkazgan in the Karaganda Region with almost 219 metric tons of toxic fuel on board.