Russia proposes UN resolution on banning weapons in space, after vetoing similar UN-Japan draft

UNITED NATIONS — Russia has circulated a UN resolution calling on all countries to take urgent action to prevent weapons from being placed in space “forever”, a week after vetoing a US-Japan resolution to ban a to stop the arms race in space.

The Russian draft resolution, obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, goes further than the U.S. and Japan proposal, calling not only for efforts to prevent weapons from being deployed in space but also to “reduce the threat or use of violence in space’. also ‘forever’.

It says this should include deploying weapons “from space against Earth, and from Earth against objects in space.”

Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council when he vetoed the US-Japanese draft that it did not go far enough in banning all types of weapons in space.

The vetoed resolution focused solely 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 under a 1967 international treaty ratified by the US and Russia, and to agree to the need to enforce it to verify.

Before the US-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 prevent the placement of weapons in space, and threat of use of force in space.”

There were seven countries in favor, seven against and one abstention. The amendment was rejected after failing to get the minimum nine “yes” votes in the 15-member Security Council needed for adoption.

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the council after the vote that Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow has no plans to use nuclear weapons in space.

“Today’s veto begs the question: why? If you stick to the rules, why not support a resolution reaffirming them? What could you possibly be hiding,” she asked. “It’s mind-boggling. And it’s a shame.”

Putin was responding to the White House’s confirmation in February that Russia has a “concerning” anti-satellite weapons capability, although no such weapon is yet operational.

Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said after the veto that the US-Japan resolution singled out weapons of mass destruction.

He said many of the actions of the US and Japan become clear “when we consider that the US and its allies some time ago announced plans to place weapons … in space.”

Nebenzia also accused the US of blocking a Russian-Chinese proposal for a treaty against placing weapons in space since 2008.

Thomas-Greenfield accused Russia of undermining global treaties to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, irresponsibly invoking “dangerous nuclear rhetoric,” reneging on several of its arms control commitments and refusing to engage in “substantial discussions around arms control or risk reduction. ”

Much of the Russian draft resolution is exactly the same as the US-Japanese draft, including language on preventing an arms race in space.

It calls on all countries, especially those with major space capabilities, “to actively contribute to the objective of the peaceful uses of outer space and the prevention of an arms race in space.”

Thomas-Greenfield said the world is only just beginning to understand “the catastrophic consequences of a nuclear explosion in space.”