Russia will begin construction of a new modern space launch centre, named as Vostochny space station, in the far eastern part of the country in 2011, a top military official said on Monday.

Currently, Russia has separate sites for launching space carrier rockets and ballistic missiles tests.

The present Baikonur space station in the Central Asian Republic of Kazakhstan is on lease since the splitting of the Soviet Union. It is used by Russia for all its space-related activity.

The Plesetsk space centre, which is in northwest Russia, is mainly utilized for military related activities, such as missile launching and testing.

Gen Nikolai Abroskin, head of the Federal Service for the Production of Special Construction Work said that the construction of new Vostochny station would take place in three phases, and would get complete by 2018.

He added that seven launching pads are to be built at new space station, which includes two pads for manned flights and two for space freighters.

The general also said that an inter-agency working group had been appointed and the designing work for station's infrastructure was in progress.