Kazakhstan: in Baikonur, the town hall offers compensation to Russian volunteers for Ukraine

(Illustration) A woman walks past a monument to the founder of the Soviet Union Vladimir Lenin on a foggy winter day in the city of Baikonur, near the Kazakh Baikonur Cosmodrome leased by Russia on December 6, 2021. AFP - KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV

Text by: Anissa El Jabri Follow

1 min

It is a symbolic city that concentrates the myth of the Soviet and then Russian space conquests: Baikonur, 75,000 inhabitants in the middle of the Kazakh steppes and its cosmodrome from which the famous Soyuz rockets depart.

Here, thousands of Russians are still working there and are now officially encouraged to take up arms in Ukraine.

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With our correspondent in the region,

A press release published on Tuesday on the town hall's website details the "

" decided by the authorities, i.e. "

".

For Baikonur volunteers, the payment will be 260,000 rubles (about 3,300 euros).

This is more than the minimum compensation paid by Moscow to volunteers from Russian territory, 195,000 rubles (about 2,500 euros).

This "

" currency, the text insists, "

". 

Last fall, Russia promised passports to any Central European citizen wishing to enlist in the ranks of its army, sparking tensions with the governments of these countries.

"This conflict is not ours", had thus judged several capitals.

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• Kazakhstan

• Space

• Ukraine

• Russia