MOSCOW

The Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday that a Soyuz 2.1b carrier rocket successfully launched military satellites into their planned orbits.

"On Feb. 5 at 21:59, a combat team of the Space Forces successfully carried out a launch of the medium-class Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket from the State Test Cosmodrome of the Russian Ministry of Defense (the Plesetsk Cosmodrome) in the Arkhangelsk region," it said in a statement.

It added that the rocket launched satellites into orbit to serve the "interests of the Defense Ministry."