Medvedev slams space chief for not fulfilling duties

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev reprimanded the head of country's space agency Roscosmos Friday for "improperly fulfilling his professional duties".

Roscosmos head Vladimir Popovkin chaired a meeting Friday on construction of the Vostochny space centre in the Far Eastern Amur region. He arrived there from Baikonur cosmodrome where he had met with a commission investigating the July crash of a Proton-M rocket carrying three communication satellites, Xinhua reported.

Following the crash, financial controlling body Audit Chamber slammed Popovkin for "creating a collective atmosphere of non-responsibility" in the national space industry.

The Chamber said Roscosmos' expenses for space vehicle maintenance was four times higher than that of foreign space agencies.