Kazakhstan intends to recover 13.5 billion tenge – 2 billion rubles – of debt from Baikonur.  The property of the company, which is a subsidiary of Roskosmos, was arrested.  Kazakh media reports say the head of Center for the Operation of Ground-Based Space Infrastructure is forbidden to leave the country.  

Kazakh media reports said on March 13 that the reason for imposing arrest on the assets of Baikonur, which is subsidiary of Roskosmos property, is its of 13.5 billion tenge (equivalent to 2 billion Russian rubles) to the Kazakh-Russian  joint venture, Joint-Stock Company (JSC) Baiterek.

The debt itself reportedly arose due to work to assess the impact of the Soyuz-5 rocket on the environment.

The bailiff service of Kazakhstan banned the Center for the Operation of Ground-Based Space Infrastructure from withdrawing material values and assets from the country. The head of the Center is forbidden to leave the territory of Kazakhstan until the end of the investigative actions.

MK.ru says 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.  The documents stating that the Center received a notice of the initiation of enforcement proceedings date back to the end of January 2023.

Some experts consider that the decision may be related to anti-Russian sanctions

The Center for the Operation of Ground-Based Space Infrastructure, which is the main operator of Russian spaceports, is the largest enterprise in the structure of Roskosmos.

At one time, a number of unpleasant stories were associated with it, in particular, on the construction at the Vostochny cosmodrome.  Sometimes it was called the “Black Hole” of Roskosmos.