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.