“We urge all states to have a meaningful, constructive conversation on the prevention of an arms race in outer space with a view to jointly developing consensus measures to keep outer space free of weapons and thereby strengthen international peace and global security,” the diplomat said in a plenary meeting of the Conference on disarmament.
He recalled that back in 2004, Russia committed itself not to deploy the first weapons in outer space, but so far only 21 states have joined this initiative, among which there is not a single Western country “of the cosmically significant”.
At the same time, statements by some countries about plans to launch weapons into outer space and their potential use could adversely affect international security and stability and allow "individual states to dictate their conditions under pain of the use of military force."
Gatilov emphasized that Russia is opposed to such “applications for undivided and uncontrolled domination in outer space” and calls on all countries to conclude a “legally binding treaty to prevent the placement of weapons in outer space,” based on the principles of the 1967 agreement.
Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry advocated the unification of all UN countries against any plans for the weaponization of outer space.