On October 25, 2018 at 3:15 MSK (0:15 UTC) the Air and Space Forces conducted a successful launch of a Soyuz-2.1b launcher from the launch pad No. 4 of the launch complex No. 43 of the Plesetsk test site. The satellite delivered into orbit received official designation Cosmos-2528.

The satellite received international designation 2018-082A and was registered as object 43657 by NORAD. It is reported to be a Lotos-S1 14F145 electronic reconnaissance satellite, which became part of the Liana system. Cosmos-2528 is the third Lotus-S1 satellite - two previous ones are Cosmos-2520 (launched in December 2014) and Cosmos-2524 (December 2017). Cosmos-2455, launched in November 2009, was a prototype Lotus-S satellite.