Russia’s PM visits space centre, promises to pay back wages

MOSCOW – Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin has visited a space centre under construction and has promised to pay back wages to workers by the weekend.

Russian investigators have opened a corruption probe into the Vostochny Cosmodrome project where workers have gone unpaid for months and have appealed to President Vladimir Putin for help.

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Vostochny, under construction in a remote area in the Far East, is a priority project that will give Russia its own facility for manned space launches and ease its reliance on a launch pad in Kazakhstan.

READ MORE: Cold War in space? Russia says it is considering building own space station

Rogozin said on Sunday that 58 million rubles (about $1 million) in wages is to be paid by April 30.

Putin, in a tightly scripted call-in show earlier this month, promised that the workers would get their overdue wages.