UNITED NATIONS — Russia has released a UN resolution calling on all countries to take urgent action to prevent the placement of weapons in outer space “forever”, a week after it vetoed a US-Japan resolution to stop an arms race in space.
The Russian draft resolution, obtained Wednesday by the Associated Press, goes further than the U.S.-Japan proposal, not only calling for efforts to prevent the use of weapons in outer space, but also to prevent “the threat or use of strength in outer space.” also “forever”.
It says this should include sending weapons “from space against Earth, and from Earth against objects in outer space.”
Russia’s Ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, told the Security Council, when vetoing the US-Japan project, that it did not go far enough in banning all types of weapons in space.
The vetoed resolution focused only on weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, and made no mention of other weapons in space.
It would have called on all countries not to develop or deploy nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in space, as prohibited by a 1967 international treaty that the US and Russia have ratified, and to agree on the need to verify compliance.
Before the U.S.-Japan resolution was voted on April 24, Russia and China proposed an amendment that would call on all countries, especially those with space capabilities, “to forever avoid placing weapons in outer space, and threat of use of force in outdoor spaces.”
The vote was 7 countries in favor, 7 against and one abstention and the amendment was defeated because it failed to obtain the minimum 9 “yes” votes in the 15-member Security Council required for adoption.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the council after the vote that Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow has no intention of deploying nuclear weapons in space.
“Today’s veto raises the question: why? Why, if they are following the rules, would they not support a resolution that reaffirms them? What could you be hiding?” she asked. “It’s disconcerting. And it’s a shame.”
Putin was responding to the White House’s confirmation in February that Russia has obtained a “worrying” anti-satellite weaponry capability, although such a weapon is not yet operational.
Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said after casting the veto that the US-Japan resolution cherry-picked weapons of mass destruction.
He said many of the U.S. and Japanese actions become clear “if we remember that the U.S. and its allies announced plans some time ago to place weapons… in outer space.”
Nebenzia also accused the US of blocking a Russian-Chinese proposal since 2008 for a treaty against placing weapons in outer space.
Thomas-Greenfield accused Russia of undermining global treaties to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons by irresponsibly invoking “dangerous nuclear rhetoric,” walking away from several of its arms control obligations and refusing to engage “in discussions substantive issues around arms control or risk reduction.” ”
Much of the Russian draft resolution is exactly the same as the US-Japan draft, including language about preventing an arms race in space.
It calls on all countries, especially those with large space capabilities, “to actively contribute to the objective of the peaceful use of outer space and the prevention of an arms race in outer space”.
Thomas-Greenfield said the world is just beginning to understand “the catastrophic ramifications of a nuclear explosion in space.”
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