UNITED NATIONS — Russia on Monday defended its veto of a UN resolution calling on all nations to avoid a nuclear arms race in outer space, challenging the US, Japan and their Western allies to support Moscow’s rival resolution. which calls for a ban on all weapons in space “forever”. .”
Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said the United States and Japan, which sponsored the vetoed resolution, were guilty of “hypocrisy and double standards.” He accused the US and Western nations more broadly of planning military exploration of outer space, including the deployment of weapons, in particular “strike combat systems”.
US Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood countered, telling the UN General Assembly: “The truth is that Russia currently has several conventional anti-satellite weapons already in orbit, one of which it tested in 2019.” He added that Russia has threatened to attack satellites with weapons and said that “there is credible information that Russia is developing a new satellite carrying a nuclear device.”
The verbal confrontation came on the day Russia threatened to attack British military installations and said it plans to hold exercises simulating the use of tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield. Moscow’s actions were a response to comments by senior Western officials about possible deeper involvement in the war in Ukraine.
In February 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to growing tensions with the West over its support for Ukraine by announcing that Moscow was suspending its participation in the New START treaty – the last remaining nuclear arms control pact with Russia. the United States.
The United Nations on Monday warned of growing concern over the recent rise in nuclear weapons talk by various parties when asked about drills planned by Russia that simulate the use of tactical nuclear weapons.
“Current nuclear risks are at an alarmingly high level,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric. “All actions that could lead to miscalculations, to an escalation with catastrophic consequences, must be avoided.”
Under a General Assembly resolution adopted in April 2022, any permanent member of the Security Council – the US, Russia, China, Britain and France – who vetoes a resolution must appear before the 193-member global body to explain why. .
Before the US-Japan resolution was voted on April 24, Russia and China unsuccessfully proposed an amendment that would call on all countries to prevent all weapons – not just weapons of mass destruction – in outer space. .
In the ensuing vote on the US-Japan resolution, 13 countries voted “yes”, China abstained and Russia voted “no”, vetoing the measure.
A week later, Russia released its rival resolution calling on all countries to stop the use of all weapons in outer space, as well as “the threat or use of force in outer space”, also “forever”.
On Monday, Nebenzia argued that the United States and its allies oppose a ban on all weapons in outer space because they plan to deploy weapons there and resist the threat of the use of force in outer space — “from outer space and against objects in outer space”. .”
Wood questioned the sincerity of Putin’s public comments that Russia has no intention of deploying nuclear weapons in space.
“If that were the case, Russia would not have vetoed this resolution,” Wood said. “Russia’s actions cast significant doubt on whether it will comply with existing legal obligations under the Outer Space Treaty and raise concerns about what this could mean for international peace and security.”
The vetoed U.S.-Japan resolution would have stated that countries that ratified the 1967 Outer Space Treaty must fulfill their obligations not to place in orbit around the Earth “any objects” with weapons of mass destruction, or install them “in celestial bodies, or station such weapons in outer space.” The treaty has been ratified by 114 countries, including the US and Russia.
Wood said that all countries should support the Outer Space Treaty and not allow Russia to deviate from the provisions of the pact, seeking to move forward with its own resolution, which, according to him, has language to be discussed in other bodies where there is not yet consensus.
“Russia’s actions are only aimed at dividing states and not uniting us,” he said.
Japanese Ambassador Yamazaki Kazuyuki asked UN member countries to imagine what would happen if a nuclear weapon detonated in outer space.
“A large number of satellites and other critical space infrastructure would be brought down,” he said.
But the consequences would not be limited to outer space, Yamazaki said, saying there would be repercussions on people’s lives and that it would obstruct development “in all regions of the Earth, disastrously and irreversibly.”
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