The Balance of Payment indicates the extent to which a country saves enough money to cover its imports. However, Errors and Omissions reflect the imbalances resulting from imperfections in source data and compilation of the Balance of Payments Accounts.
Errors and Omissions occur due to inaccurate or unreported data in the BoP, which may include:
-Unrecorded Capital Flows
-Unmarked Goods Transactions
-Remittances of Workers
Items must be recorded carefully to reduce the errors and omissions in the BoP Account.
Examples of “Errors and Omissions due to inaccurate or unreported data inthe BoP : Unpaid Military; or debt to Kazakhstan in following article.
Kazakhstan Seizes Russia’s Launch Facility at Baikonur
Matt Williams
Universe Today: Space and astronomy news
March 27, 2023
https://www.universetoday.com/160720/kazakhstan-seizes-russias-launch-facility-at-baikonur/
In February 2022, Russian military forces invaded Ukraine as part of what President Vladimir Putin described as a “limited military operation.” This operation quickly turned into a protracted war now in its second year. For Russia, the response from the international community has been anything but favorable, consisting of sanctions, embargoes, and the termination of programs.
This has been especially true for Roscosmos, which has had several cooperative agreements canceled and terminated its participation in the International Space Station (ISS).
On March 7th, 2023, Kazakhstan seized control of the Biaterek launch complex at the Baikonur Cosmodrome – Russia’s main launch site since 1955. According to statements by KZ24 News and The Moscow Times, the Kakazh government has impounded Russian assets at the Center for Utilization of Ground-based Space Infrastructure (TsENKI), a subsidiary of Roscosmos. It is also preventing Russian officials from leaving the country or liquidating Roscosmos assets. This incident is another example of how Russia’s space program is suffering collateral damage from the war in Ukraine.
According to The Moscow Times, the decision was made because the Russian state company failed to pay its debts to the Kazakh government, which are now over 13.5 billion tenges (2.258 billion rubles; $29.7 million). This debt is part of the “Baiterek” program, a Kazakh-Russian joint venture related to the development of the Soyuz-5 booster. This program was created in 2005 to speed the transition from launch vehicles that rely on highly-toxic unsymmetric dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) – aka. “heptyl” fuel (C2H8N2) – and adopting ecologically safe propellants and launch practices.
Other sources attribute this recent decision to “incorrect behavior” and harsh statements on behalf of Yuri Borisov, who became the head of Roscosmos in 2022 as part of an administrative shakeup. Last year, construction of the Soyuz-5 launch pad was pushed back by six months, leading Borisov to criticize the delay in general and Kasakhstan’s Minister of Communications (Bagdat Musin) in particular. Musin is directly engaged in Kazakhstan’s space industry and responded in kind, calling Borisov’s remarks a “diplomatic miscalculation.”
The travel ban and the hold on Roscosmos assets extend to the head of the TsENKI unit, who is under arrest pending the completion of the investigation. The purpose of Baiterek was to estimate the environmental impact of conducting regular launches with the Soyuz-5, which relies on a combination of kerosene and liquid oxygen (LOX). According to the KZ24 News report, this seizure has slowed the construction of a new launch pad at Baikonur and may jeopardize the rocket’s development.
“A ban on utilizing resources and conducting financial operations, as well as instability in negotiating positions as a whole are slowing down the priority direction of work at Baikonur, namely the construction of a new launch pad for the Soyuz-5 Booster,” says the report. So far, Russia has invested 62 billion rubles ($810 million) in the booster, the construction of the new launch pad, and related efforts. All of that could become a total loss at this point unless Russia can come to an arrangement with Kazakhstan on how to service its debts.
The Baikonur Cosmodrome was built in the 1950s as a test range for the R-7 Semyorka, the Soviet Union’s first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and the basis of the Sputnik, Vostok, Voskhod, and Soyuz launch vehicles. The test range was transformed by 1957 to service space launches and became the site where the first artificial satellite was sent into orbit (Sputnik 1) on October 4th, 1957. It was also here that the first man (Yuri Gagarin) went to space on April 12th, 1961 (Vostok 1), and the first woman, Valentina Tereshkova (Vostok 6), on June 16th, 1963.
Since 1994, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has leased the site from Kazakhstan and continued to use it as its main space complex. In 2012, Russia began constructing a new launch complex to reduce its dependence on Kazakhstan called the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the far eastern Amur region near the Chinese border. However, the planning and construction of this complex have been delayed in recent years due to reports of embezzlement and fraud, leading to the arrest of many officials involved.
While Russia still has launch facilities throughout the country – like Kapustin Yar and the Plestsk and Svobodny Cosmodromes – they are either limited in terms of launch capacity, the types of launches they can support, or are no longer operational. As a result, the seizure of Baikonur’s facilities, Roscosmos assets, and the arrest of its officials have effectively grounded Roscosmos for now.
- Further Reading: KZ24 News, RFERL, The Moscow Times
VIDEO
04 Apr: Ukrainians UNLEASH WESTERN ARTILLERY IN BAKHMUT | War in Ukraine Explained
Reporting from Ukraine
215K subscribers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLTWzCVzXkI
⚠️ Watch RFU in 18+ languages: https://www.youtube.com/@RFU/channels
COMMENTS: I am a Ukrainian. My country has been invaded by Russia. In this video I will tell you what happened on the four hundred and fifth day of the war.
Day 405: April 04
Russians devoted almost all of the artillery systems to Bakhmut to suppress Ukrainian firing points in the high-rise buildings. But because Russian artillery is not precise, they were forced to move it very close to the front line to avoid hitting their own people due to error. Ukrainians deployed 5 artillery brigades with long-range Western weapons and started hunting them down.
Last time I told you that due to the weather conditions, the activity in the fields decreased and all the fights moved into the city center, Russians concentrated their artillery fire on the city center and managed to push Ukrainians out of the City Hall.
The freshest reports suggest that the City Hall was destroyed after Russians captured it. Recently released footage shows that Wagner forces entered the building and took some photos inside, however, it turned out that this was yet another building that Ukrainians completely mined, so by the time Russians prepared to raise their flag, the building exploded and turned to rubble. Russian forces inside Bakhmut became paranoid about pushing Ukrainians out of their positions because they know that the moment Ukrainians leave, there is a high chance that it will explode. The implementation of such a tactic serves as a powerful deterrent.
When it comes to the Ukrainian positions along the river, today, it was confirmed that Ukrainians withdrew towards the main street. As mentioned previously, after Wagner forces established control over the market, this group started suffering from crossfire, and it became inefficient to fight from a disadvantageous position.
But intense fights continue. Footage released by the Ukrainian 1st Border Detachment, which is responsible for the northern part of the line, indicates that the fights are taking place in the residential area with small houses next to the AZOM industrial complex. Footage by the Ukrainian 93rd Mechanized Brigade, which is responsible for the southern part of the line, indicates that they assumed firing positions in the city center and used grenade throwers to complicate Russian advances.
As noted last time, Russian artillery is increasingly targeting such Ukrainian positions. A week-old footage published by Wagner forces revealed that Russian artillery is located only 10 km away from the city center. Judging by the direction of fire, Russians have concentrated their artillery systems around Pokrovske, which is not surprising because from here, they can also cover the whole northern flank, which was very active up until recently. Ukrainians are conducting intense counterbattery fire. In fact, Ukrainians have accumulated at least 5 artillery brigades around Bakhmut and around the same number of artillery battalions. Ukrainian 112th Brigade showed how they spotted and destroyed Russian artillery hiding between small houses. Another footage shows how Ukrainians are using an Excalibur to destroy Russian artillery hidden in a tree line. The increased presence and use of western artillery systems in the Bakhmut direction makes a huge difference and may indicate that Ukrainians are practicing before the counteroffensive operation.
However, smaller artillery detachments from Mechanized or Assault Brigades have less sophisticated machinery at their disposal. Nonetheless, as recently revealed, they are making very good use of what they have. An artillery crew from Presidential Brigade showed how they took tubes from the Grad system and used them on the cars to fire one rocket at a time. Such an approach proved to be useful when they didn’t want to destroy the whole building. For example, one Ukrainian soldier published a video showing how he got trapped inside the house because there was a Russian sniper in front of his position. He gave the coordinates to the artillery, and after several tries, they hit the right window and cleared the place.
Overall, artillery proved to be the most important asset on the front lines, and given that almost half of the fights every day take place in Bakhmut, Ukrainians have relocated a lot of artillery to the region. They are using it to conduct counterbattery fire, help to suppress enemy fire, and destroy firing positions, but most importantly, these 5 Artillery Brigades are practicing to use Western artillery systems before the coming counteroffensive operation.”