MOSCOW - Russia's Federal Space Agency has successfully launched three new Glonass navigation and positioning satellites from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard a Proton-M rocket.

After the latest launch on Dec. 25, Glonass - Russia's equivalent of the U.S. GPS system - counts 20 satellites, enough to cover Russia's entire territory with a positioning accuracy of up to 1 meter, Sergei Ivanov, Russia's deputy prime minister in charge of technology, said in televised remarks Dec. 25.

Ivanov said the newly launched satellites will undergo about 45 days of testing before joining the operational fleet. The Glonass system needs to have 24 satellites to provide global service.

"I personally believe that there would be no big problems related to the space part of the Glonass system. In the coming two years we have to concentrate attention on the land part of this space system," Ivanov said.

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