The United States drafted a resolution on space weapons that Russia vetoed at the UN Security Council on Wednesday. The document calls on countries to prevent an arms race in space. According to the US, Moscow’s position suggests that Russia “may be hiding something”, describes the Reuters agency.
“It’s a funny resolution,” Russia’s UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzia told reporters before the vote. The vote came after Washington accused Moscow of developing a space-based anti-satellite nuclear weapon whose electromagnetic radiation would knock out vast networks of satellites if detonated.
However, Russia denies it, and American officials, in turn, refused to share intelligence to support the allegation before the 15-member council voted.
The draft Security Council resolution was put to a vote by the US and Japan after nearly six weeks of negotiations. It received 13 votes in favour, while China abstained and Russia vetoed it. This despite the fact that President Vladimir Putin stated earlier this year that Moscow is against the deployment of nuclear weapons in space. “Our position is clear and transparent: We have always been and are now categorically against the deployment of nuclear weapons in space,” Putin asserted.
The UN text would confirm the obligation to comply with the Outer Space Treaty. At the same time, it is a call for states to “actively contribute to the achievement of the goal of the peaceful use of outer space and to the prevention of an arms race in space.” The 1967 treaty itself prohibits all signatories — including Russia and the United States — from placing “in Earth orbit any objects carrying nuclear weapons or other types of weapons of mass destruction.”
