Russia returns 11,600 hectares of land back to Kazakhstan

A protocol adjusting the Baikonur lease agreement, which has been signed in Chelyabinsk, ends the lease of land near the towns of Akai and Toretam by Russia, the Kazakh Defense and Aerospace Industry Ministry said in a statement.

"The document ends the lease of 11,600 hectares of land near the towns of Akai and Toretam by Russia; the land is reassigned to the Kyzylorda district for the purpose of developing socioeconomic infrastructure," Interfax cited the ministry as saying.

As reported earlier, the protocol adjusting the Baikonur lease agreement concluded by the governments of Russia and Kazakhstan on December 10, 1994, was signed on the sidelines of the 14th inter-regional cooperation forum of the two countries in Chelyabinsk last week.

The towns of Akai and Toretam are situated in the direct proximity to the city of Baikonur; their initial purpose was to create transport and agricultural infrastructure for the cosmodrome. As of June 2015, the towns had a total population of about 16,000.