The rocket lifted off at 7:07 pm (1507 GMT) from the Plessetsk space station in northern Russia to launch the satellites into orbit, the officials said.

There are currently around 60 Russian military satellites in space, they added.

ITAR-TASS said the satellites could be used for telecommunications, monitoring the oceans and measurements for the launch of ballistic missiles.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.