In addition to writing for Aviation Week Network, Maxim holds a key position at Russia's Air Transport Observer magazine (www.ato.ru). In the past he was in charge of several ATO sister aerospace publications and earlier worked for the Moscow-based CAST defense think-tank.
Maxim has a degree on international relations from MGIMO University, Moscow, Russia, and for several years worked at the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The Russian defense ministry launched a Soyuz-2.1b medium-class vehicle with a Fregat third-stage booster from its spaceport Plesetsk in northern Russia on Dec. 3, orbiting three Gonetz-M communication satellites and the ERA-1 military nanosatellite, Roscosmos State Corp. said.