I have been able to glean the following regarding the Baikonur Cosmodrome:

The huge cosmodrome covers 6,717 square kilometers of land located 370 km southwest of the namesake town of Baikonur. Upon the disintegration of the Soviet Union the cosmodrome was placed for a time under the auspices of the CIS. The Republic of Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation entered into a lease agreement in 1994 that was to last for 20 years. In 2004, it was replaced by a new agreement that lasts until 2050. The payment made by Russia is US$115 million annually. Most Russian military missile testing has been removed to a new base at Plesetsk in Russia. The Russian civilian/commercial space program remains, with very little military presence at all. Kazakhstan reserves the right to approve each individual Russian launch and to use the site itself for its own space ambitions and for joint Kazakh/Russian efforts. The newest launch complex at Baikonur is a joint Kazakh/Russian facility. The first Kazakh launch is expected next year. The recent flurry of media attention was in commemoration of cosmodrome's 50th anniversary.

A scholarly article (which I have not seen) and the appended agreements are found as linked below. Anyone having Lexis or Westlaw subscriptions can retrieve them, or perhaps the journal could be found at a library.

30 JOURNAL OF SPACE LAW, NO. 1, SPRING, 2004.

Bjornerud, Maria. Baikonur continues: the new lease agreement between Russia and Kazakhstan. 30 J. Space L. 13-25 (2004). [LEXIS] [WESTLAW]

Appended Agreements:

On Basic Principles and Terms of the Utilization of the Baikonur Cosmodrome Agreement Between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan, March 28, 1994. 30 J. Space L. 26-31 (2004). [LEXIS] [WESTLAW]
Agreement Between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan on the Cooperation in the Effective Use of the Baikonur Facility, January 9, 2004. 30 J. Space L. 32-34 (2004). [LEXIS] [WESTLAW]
Memorandum on Further Development of Cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan in Ensuring the Functioning of the Baikonur Complex, January 9, 2004. 30 J. Space L. 35-36 (2004). [LEXIS] [WESTLAW]

Lowell G. McManus
Leesville, Louisiana, USA

----- Original Message -----
From: "L. A. Nadybal" <lnadybal@...>

To: <BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com>

Sent: Tuesday, June 07, 2005 10:07 PM

Subject: [BoundaryPoint] Re: Russian Lease in Kasakhstan

>I find a big difference. A leased territory is very different from
> either a fully sovereign base or a base operated under a status of
> forces agreement. There are always interesting questions about
> whether "vestigial" areas like these are still sovereign Russian
> (exclaves), extraterritorial, occupied by Russia, tolerated until
> removed or under a stationing agreement of some sort. Shades of status.
>
> Len