Russia has reached an agreement with Kazakhstan to lease the Baikonur space launching site for the next 20 years at a cost of $115 million a year, a spokesman for the Russian space agency said Tuesday.


Under the terms of the lease, which removes a stumbling block in relations between the two countries, the cosmodrome complex -- land, launching site, buildings and equipment -- will be entirely under Russian jurisdiction, as will the nearby city of Leninsk. Russian laws will apply, residents will use Russian currency, and Moscow will nominate the head of the local administration.


The deal allows Russia to continue launching heavy rockets of the Proton class and avoid an interruption in its space program. During the Soviet period almost all space operations were centered in Baikonur.


"At present there is no replacement for Baikonur," said space agency spokesman Vladimir Tkachyov. "It is of extreme importance for the Russian space program. All geostationary satellites and orbiter stations, and almost all joint commercial flights, are launched from it."


President Boris Yeltsin signed the decree Monday providing for funding of the agreement, which was hammered out earlier this month. An agreement in principle was reached six months ago.


According to Tkachyov, Plisetsk, the only launching site on Russian territory, lacks necessary infrastructure, and plans to build another cosmodrome at Svobodny, in the Amur region, are only in their initial stages. According to Sergei Gorbunov, a spokesman for the Military Space Forces, it will take about 10 years before it is operational.


The new agreement will allow Russia to invest in Baikonur and Leninsk to repair deterioration since Kazakh independence in 1991. Until now, said Gorbunov, "nobody wanted to finance something that belonged to another country without any guarantees."


Lack of financing and difficult conditions led to riots among soldiers in Leninsk in February, resulting in several deaths.


Despite the agreement with Kazakhstan, Russia intends ultimately to transfer all military launches to Plisetsk. "It is quite natural that Russia wants to protect its space military secrets," said Gorbunov.


Though the space operation was run by Russia, the installations were guarded by the Kazakh counterintelligence service. Likewise the police in Leninsk were Russian, but the prosecutor's office was Kazakh.