"One of the key tasks facing the Space Forces in the future is to ensure Russia's guaranteed and independent access to outer space, and the implementation of its independent space policy," Anatoly Serdyukov said at a meeting with the Space Forces' senior staff.
The minister also said that the Space Forces must build a fully-developed land infrastructure for launches for the entire range of carrier rockets and satellites, both military and dual-purpose, to all required altitudes and orbits.
According to Russia's Defense Ministry, in 2006, the Space Forces launched eight military and 17 civilian satellites under various programs from three space centers on Russian territory, and conducted four practice launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
In addition, the Space Forces' early-warning radars detected last year 12 ballistic missile launches, including eight domestic and four foreign launches, 11 carrier rocket lift offs, and tracked the movements of over 100 domestic and foreign satellites.
Commander of Russia's Space Forces Colonel General Vladimir Popovkin earlier reiterated that Russia does not have any "holes" in its early-warning missile threat coverage.
