MOSCOW - Prime Minister Mikhail Kasianov has ordered the Russian finance ministry to provide 1.5 billion rubles (about $50 million) to Rosaviakosmos, the aviation and space agency, primarily for building additional Progress resupply vehicles to support the International Space Station.

He requested the order be fulfilled within three days.

"We have to do everything to keep space as a driving force of the Russian economy," Kasianov said.

The money would come from what is called "additional federal budget incomes," or money made available because the world market price for oil has been higher than predicted under earlier budget planning. The money represents about 12 percent of the total annual funding for the civilian space program.

Commenting on the decision, Rosaviakosmos General Director Yuri Koptev defined three priorities for the Russian space program: Soyuz launcher modernization, including ground complexes at Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome and Europe's Kourou, French Guiana spaceport; updating Russia's remote sensing satellite constellation, which includes three launches next year; and developing a communication satellite constellation.