OREANDA-NEWS. April 13, 2011. Russia has offered Ukraine to participate in a project to build Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Amur region, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has said.

"You can join as early as at the first stage," Putin said at a meeting with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in Kiev.

He said that the Russian authorities were paying great attention to this project.

"The work, in fact, has already begun," the Russian premier added.

Yanukovych, in turn, said that the cooperation between Ukraine and Russia in the space industry is promising. "I believe that the development of our space systems, of course, has a great promise and tremendous potential," the Ukrainian president has said.

Russia is currently building Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Amur region, which will enable the Russian Space Agency to pursue an independent space policy across the whole spectrum of issues. However, Russia has said on many occasions that it is not going to refuse from Baikonur in the foreseeable future.