Yet another step in Russia’s effort to be counted once again among the Great Powers...but they’re going to need a whole bunch of cold, hard cash to do it the right way:

A major source of revenue for the agency in recent years has been space tourist flights from Baikonur to the International Space Station (ISS), with tickets currently priced at around $30 million. Russia has put five wealthy foreign tourists into space since 2001.
Perminov said the first Russian space tourist, who will fly to the ISS in 2009, is a businessman and politician.

Flying space tourists up to the ISS ain’t gonna cut it without a stable economy in place. Still, Хорошее везение, мои друзья!