MOSCOW, July 22. /TASS/. The control of the Yamal-601 satellite has been completely transferred to Gazprom Space Systems, a division of the Russian gas holding, the company said in a statement on its website on Monday.

"On July 19th, Thales Alenia Space completely transferred control of the Yamal-601 satellite to the operational divisions of Gazprom Space Systems," according to the statement.

Last month, the satellite was controlled jointly by the teams of Thales Alenia Space (the company where the device was manufactured) and Gazprom Space Systems from the Mission Control Center in Shchelkovo.

Several days ago, all the networks that operated in Yamal-202, the predecessor of Yamal-601, were successfully switched to the new satellite.

On May 30, the Proton-M carrier rocket was blasted off from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan to bring the Yamal-601 satellite to the orbit.

The Yamal-601 satellite in the C-band will form a fixed beam with a contour diagram and a semi-global service area that will cover the visible part of the territory of Russia, the CIS countries, Europe, the Middle East and part of Southeast Asia.

The Yamal-601 project is part of the Federal Targeted Program for the Development of Television and Radio Broadcasting in Russia. Thales Alenia Space won the contract for the design, production, testing and turn-key supply of the Yamal-601 spacecraft in 2013.