Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Blagoveshchensk on Tuesday, the Cosmonautics Day, with a working visit.
The Russian president's program includes a visit to the Vostochny spaceport together with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko. The presidents will become familiar with the progress of the spaceport construction, and then Putin will present state awards to the pilots-cosmonauts and together with Lukashenko will talk to the workers of the spaceport. Then the leaders will hold talks to discuss the development of bilateral cooperation, the situation in Ukraine and a joint response to Western sanctions. A press conference between Putin and Lukashenko for journalists is planned afterwards.
On the same day in Blagoveshchensk the Russian leader will hold working meetings with Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin and the governor of the Amur region Vasily Orlov.
Putin has visited the Vostochny spaceport several times, the last time it was in September last year on his way back from the Eastern Economic Forum.
Vostochny is Russia's first civilian cosmodrome and is located in the Amur region near Tsiolkovsky (the city was established in 2015 on the site of the former village of Uglegorsk). The president signed a decree on the creation of the cosmodrome in 2007. As part of the first phase of construction in 2012-2016, a universal launch complex for Soyuz-2 launch vehicles was erected here. The second stage of construction envisages the construction of a launch pad for Angara-A5 launch vehicles and associated infrastructure.
