Medvedev congratulates space industry workers on holiday

MOSCOW, April 12 (RIA Novosti) - President Dmitry Medvedev has congratulated space and missile industry workers on their professional holiday - Cosmonautics Day, the presidential press service said on Sunday.

"The conquest of outer space became one of the brightest and most unforgivable pages of the 20th century history. The flight by Yuri Gagarin on April 12, 1961 opened a new epoch in the civilization's development," Medvedev's message read.

"The first step in outer space was made thanks to the talent of our outstanding designers and the courage of cosmonauts. And we are rightfully proud of the fact that this scientific and technical breakthrough was made precisely in our country," the message said.

Medvedev said that the development of the space and missile industry remained a strategic priority for Russia.

"Russia's economic successes and competitiveness, the development of science and the country's security directly depend on the efficiency of its [space and missile industry] work," Medvedev said.

Protesters Tell Putin to Go to Space - April 13, 2009 - Hundreds of people staged anti-government rallies in Moscow and other cities over the weekend under posters that, among other things, called for President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minster Vladimir Putin to be sent to space. The biggest protests were held in the Far East city of Vladivostok, where more than 300 people denounced military reforms on Saturday and another 200 decried recent hikes in tariffs on imported cars Sunday.

Protesters on Sunday carried anti-government posters demanding that Medvedev and Putin be sent up on a rocket to space. Sunday was Cosmonauts Day, the anniversary of Yury Gagarin making history by becoming the first man in space in 1961.

Police, who outnumbered the protesters, ordered them to leave after 30 minutes, and the crowd balked, saying they were not violating the law because the demonstration had been sanctioned by local authorities, Interfax reported. They put away their posters but declared that they would stay in the area to talk, not to protest.

Police then moved in to forcefully break up the gathering, detaining about a dozen people, news reports said.

A man holds a model of a rocket during a rally against an increase in import tariffs for foreign-made cars in Moscow April 12, 2009. The rocket has a portrait of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on it and it reads: "Going to space: tariffs, technical regulations, housing costs, petrol prices."

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