A leading engineer at a Russian space center that is under construction in the country's Far East has been charged with taking a bribe.

Russia's Investigative Committee says that the man, whose name was not disclosed, was detained on January 18 after he allegedly accept 50,000 rubles ($635) from a subcontractor during the construction of the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Amur region.

Russia is building the facility to eliminate its reliance on the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for manned launches.

But the project has been dogged by reports of corruption.

In the spring of 2015, workers went on strike at the facility over unpaid wages.

They were only paid after appealing directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The directors of three subcontracting firms were later arrested on corruption charges.