Russian military to tackle threat from space objects: general

（Xinhua）  13:57, February 21, 2013  

MOSCOW, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Russia's Aerospace Defense Forces will take measures to protect the country from the potential threat of meteorites and other space objects, a Russian general said Wednesday.

The Aerospace Defense Forces have received an order to handle this issue and come up with a plan to protect Russia from these space travelers, commander of the Western military district's aviation General Igor Makushev told reporters in the central Russian city of Voronezh.

Makushev visited Voronezh with an unanticipated inspection of one of the air bases located in the region, according to Russia media reports.

He made this statement following a scientific conference in Moscow which discussed Friday's meteorite attack in several cities in the Ural Mountains. About 1,200 people were injured by the meteorite's blast wave and shattered glasses.

On Monday, Lidia Rykhlova, a space scientist of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said about 2 billion U.S. dollars would be needed to built a working anti-meteorite shield.

She said the draft federal program of creating an anti-meteor shield has been approved by Russian space agency Roscosmos and submitted to Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.

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