The Air and Space Forces performed a successful launch of a Soyuz-2.1b rocket from the launch pad No. 4 of the launch complex No. 43 of the Plesetsk space launch site. The launch took place at 11:44:37 MSK (08:44:37 UTC) on May 29, 2016. The satellite that the rocket and its Fregat boost stage delivered into orbit is a Glonass-M navigation satellite.

The satellite is known as Glonass No. 53 and is likely to be designated Cosmos-2516. The satellite received international designation 2016-032A and was registered by NORAD as object 41544.

Previous Glonass launch took place in February 2016.