Its a joint venture...France is kicking in some 300-million-euro ($345 million)
Kourou is home for Arianne and is being redesigned to handle Soyuz and the new Soyuz 3.
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION
At the time the Soyuz-3 concept made its public debut at Moscow Air Show in August 2005, few technical details on the launcher had been available. During one of the public events in Moscow, a photographer snapped a picture of a space official holding a card with the Soyuz-3 specifications. In the new age of digital photography and the Internet, a reproduction of the card with key specs of the Soyuz-3 easily discernible was orbiting cyberspace long before the officials or industry publications "informed" the public.
The Soyuz-3 apparently borrowed body dimensions for the 1st and 2nd stages from the Avrora project. The top section of the 2nd stage (also known as core or sustainer stage) would have a cylindrical shape with the constant diameter, as oppose to conical shape of its predecessors. Like Avrora, the Soyuz-3 would carry NK-33 engine, inherited from the ill-fated N1 rocket, developed during the Moon Race between the USSR and the United States in the 1960s. However, the scale model apparently lacked RD-110P steering engine on the 2nd stage.
The first stage, traditionally comprised of four conical strap-on boosters, would be equipped with a modified version of the RD-120 engine, borrowed from currently operational Zenit-2 rocket.
Finally, the biggest change would come in the third stage, which sould be developed from scratch and equipped with four RD-0146E engines, burning cryogenically cooled liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. The basic concept of the engine was also intended for upper stages of the Proton-M and Angara launch vehicles.
******************************************
Russia has also signed joint space ventures with China,India and even Brazil.