The President called for enhancing the role of space research in ensuring national security and underlined the importance of a wider use of space research in the high-tech sector.
Anatoly Kvashnin, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, and Yury Koptev, director general of Rosaviakosmos, delivered speeches at the meeting.
The Security Council approved the state’s space research programme for the period until 2010 and endorsed the list of dual-purpose space complexes that could be used in civilian space research. The Security Council took the decision on the launching of the Ekran communication satellite in late March to provide stable communications for 20 million residents of the Russian Far East.