A Soyuz-2.1v carrier rocket blasted off Friday from the Plesetsk space center with the Russian Defense Ministry's spacecraft on board, the ministry said. This reported by Sputnik.

"On Friday, June 23, at 21:04 Moscow time, from launching platform No. 4 of site No. 43 of the State Test Cosmodrome Plesetsk, a Russian Aerospace Forces… crew successfully launched a Soyuz-2.1v light carrier rocket with a spacecraft in the interests of Russia's Defense Ministry," it told reporters.

The blastoff occurred in normal mode, the ministry said.