The Russian newspaper "Kommersant" reports that Russia has agreed to launch Iran's two spy satellites later this year. Iran was intending to launch these spy satellites with their own technology but Russia convinced Iran that the launch could incite a U.S. military response.

The RF Defense Ministry has been left with no spy satellite in orbit. The last anchor of Russia's surveillance, US-PU satellite of electronic intelligence, moved down from the orbit at night from Friday to Saturday, as the service life of that satellite, which took off from Baikonur May 2004, came to a natural end.