Moscow, August 25, 2026 – The Europe Today: Russia has successfully launched a new military spacecraft into orbit aboard a Soyuz-2.1b rocket from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk Region, according to the Russian Defence Ministry.
The launch was conducted by a combat crew of the Russian Space Forces at 5:40 a.m. Moscow time on Monday. The spacecraft was launched in the interests of the Russian Defence Ministry, while its type and specific mission have not been disclosed.
The ministry said the spacecraft reached its designated orbit and was subsequently placed under the control of ground-based Space Forces systems. Stable telemetry communication has been established and maintained, with the spacecraft’s onboard systems reported to be functioning normally.
Following the launch, the Soyuz-2.1b rocket and its payload were tracked by the ground-based automated control complex of the German Titov Main Test and Space Systems Control Centre, which is responsible for monitoring Russian military spacecraft.
The Soyuz-2.1b is a medium-lift, three-stage launch vehicle that has been used for both military and civilian satellite deployments.
The latest mission follows several military space launches from Plesetsk earlier this year. On April 17, a Soyuz-2.1b rocket carried several spacecraft into orbit for the Defence Ministry, while an Angara-1.2 light rocket launched military satellites from the cosmodrome six days later.
Plesetsk, Russia’s northernmost major space launch facility, is particularly suited for placing spacecraft into polar orbits, which are widely used for Earth observation and military missions. The facility was originally established as a Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile base before being converted for space launches in the 1960s.
