MOSCOW, June 2 (Xinhuanet) -- Russia will take actions against any country that deploys weapons in space, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said at the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on Thursday.

    "If some state harbors plans to deploy weapons in space or starts doing this, we will certainly take measures in response to this," Ivanov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.

    "Russia's position on this issue has not changed for decades. We are categorically against militarizing outer space," he said.

    When answering a question by the Itar-Tass, the defense minister said Moscow will take adequate measures should the United States or any other country realize plans for the militarization of space.

    "If any country attempts to realize such plans Russia beyond doubt will take adequate measures in return," Ivanov said.

    Baikonur, the world's largest space launch site, was celebrating on Thursday its 50th anniversary, and Russian President Vladimir Putin traveling toward there to join the ceremonies.

    The "star" town of Baikonur, founded 50 years ago, was the launch site of the first satellite to orbit the Earth and of the pioneer cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Expeditions to the Moon, Mars, Venus also began from Baikonur.

    Over the spaceport's 50-year history, about 2,500 rockets were launched from the cosmodrome for space research and military purposes.

    More than 3,000 spacecrafts and satellites also blasted off here, lifting over 130 Russian and foreign cosmonauts into orbit, according to the Itar-Tass. Enditem