Russia’s space corporation, Roscosmos, is advocating the adoption of a resolution to prevent an arms race in space as a response to the defense space strategy developed by the Pentagon, said Sergei Savelyev, Roscosmos Deputy Director-General, TASS reported.
“We act consistently on all possible venues including, in particular, the Conference on Disarmament, in order to adopt a resolution to prevent an arms race in space,” Savelyev was quoted in the statement by Roscosmos on Thursday.
According to the corporate executive, Moscow warily reacts to claims that Russia is going to place weapons directed against the U.S. in space. Savelyev stressed that the space agency is ready to boost cooperation between Moscow and Washington in various directions in the field of space exploration.
“The militarization of outer space with the subsequent emergence of the dominant roles of our U.S. partners can disrupt the already fragile structure of relations between the two countries in this area,” he explained.
On Wednesday, the Pentagon announced the completion of the development of America’s space ‘defense’ strategy. It describes how the U.S. will answer challenges and threats, react to opportunities in current and future situations in the security sphere. The U.S. Defense Department noted that China and Russia are allegedly militarizing outer space turning it into an arena for a military standoff.
On February 25, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the Conference on Disarmament said that “plans of the U.S., as well as those of France and NATO as a whole, to place weapons in outer space are taking shape.”
Roscosmos noted that this strategy implies an incremental approach to shaping complete military dominance in space, integrating military potential in space with national, joint, and combined operations, forming a strategic environment, and cooperating with allies, partners, industry, and U.S. government authorities and agencies.