Russia believes there is still time to prevent an arms race in space by establishing a legally binding international treaty that prohibits the deployment of offensive weapons in orbit. This was stated on Wednesday by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Ryabkov during a briefing in Moscow.
His comments follow an admission by the United States this week that the Pentagon is operating weapons in Earth’s orbit. This acknowledgment marks a significant development in the militarization of space. Specifically, U.S. Space Command commander Douglas Schiess stated that personnel from this branch of the armed forces “are operating weapons on orbit that can protect the Joint Force from space-based attacks.”
Russia’s position on space security
Sergey Ryabkov noted that the United States did not inform Russia—one of the world’s three leading space powers—about its new capabilities, though the announcement did not come as a surprise to Moscow. “This is not something new for us; we are monitoring everything, recording everything, and drawing the appropriate conclusions,” the deputy minister said.
According to Sergey Ryabkov, Moscow has long advocated for a treaty that would rule out the use of force or the threat of force against objects in space. He accused the United States and the United Kingdom of using “provocative pretexts” for years to hide their reluctance to move in that direction. The Russian Foreign Ministry representative stated that Western countries are seeking “far-fetched arguments” to avoid progress and are attempting to blame Russia for activities they deem destabilizing.
“But we believe that it is not too late to create an environment that would make an arms race with growing risks of open conflict in space impossible,” Sergey Ryabkov concluded.
Source: Channel NewsAsia
