RUSSIAN PRIME MINISTER: SCIENTIFIC AND ECONOMIC PROGRESS IS IMPOSSIBLE WITHOUT SPACE RESEARCH








MOSCOW, March 11, 2001. /RIA Novosti correspondent Dmitry Znamensky/. The development of science and technologies is unthinkable without space exploration. At the same time, it is hard to imagine economic progress without the results of human activities in space. The Russian prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov made a statement to this effect Sunday, at a session of the organising committee for preparing the events devoted to the 40th anniversary of the first manned space flight.


	In the prime minister's words, the development of nearly all sectors of the national economy are connected with the development of astronautics. Advances in this area are also used in strategic spheres, primarily in that of the country's defences, Kasyanov stressed.


	He called Yuri Gagarin's flight a feat which had produced an immense impression on all peoples of the world.


	The 40th anniversary of this flight should be marked in such a way as to "make this jubilee a significant event for all Russians", Kasyanov said in conclusion.