/s3/static.nrc.nl/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/11141034/web-1107BINRussischeRuimtebasis.jpg "Dutch arrested at Russian missile base in Kazakhstan")
Two Dutch nationals and a Belgian were arrested on Tuesday near a rocket launch site in Kazakhstan. The three were trying to enter the Baikonur cosmodrome, which Russia leases, the Russian news agency RIA and Kazakh media reported on Thursday.
The Foreign Office confirms the arrest of the Dutch nationals in Kazakhstan. They are now free again after consular assistance. The ministry does not wish to provide further information for privacy reasons.
according to telegraph, He is said to have spoken to one of the arrested men, two Dutch nationals aged 25 and 29, and a 26-year-old Belgian. They were said to have been on the site to make a documentary for a YouTube channel about the Buran spacecraft and the Soviet space programme. They will return to the Netherlands next Friday.
Remote area
The Baikonur Cosmodrome is the world's largest space launch site and has been under Russian control since the fall of the Soviet Union. The site continues to play an important role in manned and unmanned spaceflight, including flights to the International Space Station.
The Cosmodrome is not easy to get to. It is located in a remote desert area, about 1,300 kilometers southwest of the Kazakh capital Astana. Access to the site is very limited and is only occasionally opened for guided tours by space enthusiasts.
This isn’t the first time someone has tried to illegally access the launch site. Just last month, a French tourist died from heat exhaustion while trying to get close, and in 2022, a British travel blogger was stopped near the spaceport.
