"On Thursday, December 21 ... a combat crew of the aerospace forces launched a medium-class Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with spacecraft on behalf of the Russian Defense Ministry from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome (Arkhangelsk Region)," the MoD said in a statement, Sputnik reported.
Soyuz-2 is an upgraded and advanced version of its Soviet-era predecessor. In its basic form, it is a three-stage launch vehicle, capable of placing payloads into the Earth's low orbit.
This particular launch was among the planned space missions scheduled for 2023 and announced at the beginning of the year.