Russia Vetoes UN Resolution Against Space Arms Race, US Suspects Moscow May Deploy Nuclear Bomb, National Security Adviser Says

A UN resolution against the arms race in space, tabled by the US and Japan, was not adopted by the UN Security Council due to Russia’s veto, DPA and Reuters reported.

The draft resolution received 13 out of a total of 15 votes in the highest UN body. China abstained, Russia opposed.

The draft resolution called on all states, especially those with great space potential, “to contribute actively to the achievement of the goal of the peaceful uses of outer space and to prevent an arms race in outer space, and to refrain from actions contrary to this goal and the relevant existing treaties, in the interest of maintaining international peace and security and promoting international cooperation”.

In February, several major US media reported findings about Russia’s efforts to develop a space-based anti-satellite nuclear weapon that could pose a threat to national and international security. The resolution also affirms the obligation of all States Parties to fully comply with the Outer Space Treaty, “including not to place in orbit around the Earth objects carrying nuclear weapons or other types of weapons of mass destruction, not to install such weapons on celestial bodies and not deploy such weapons in outer space in any other way”.

She emphasized the dire consequences that could result from the detonation of a nuclear weapon or the use of any other type of weapon of mass destruction in outer space. Washington’s UN representative Linda Thomas-Greenfield said such a detonation could destroy thousands of satellites operated by countries and companies around the world, “and destroy vital communications, scientific, meteorological, agricultural, commercial and national security services, on which we all depend”.

TASS notes that before the vote, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vasyl Nebenzya, stated that the document aims to deepen the division between the members of the UN Security Council. The Russian Federation and China proposed an amendment to the draft resolution that provided for measures to prevent all types of weapons in space, but it was rejected by the Security Council, the agency said.

The approval of the US-Japan draft resolution of the UN Security Council on nuclear weapons in space would have given the US freedom of action in matters of international security, said the spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, as quoted by TASS.

“The adoption of a resolution containing such provisions would create a negative precedent, undermining the work of not only the UN Security Council, but also relevant forums, including the First Committee of the UN General Assembly, the Conference on Disarmament and the UN Committee on Outer Space “Approving the project would give the US practically complete freedom of action to legitimize in this way any understandings regarding international security and strategic stability that are in the interest of the United States,” the spokeswoman emphasized.

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said after the vote that “the United States believes that Russia is developing a new satellite that carries a nuclear device,” the Associated Press reported.

“Russia would not have vetoed this resolution” if it had no such intentions, he added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this year that Moscow was against deploying nuclear weapons in space, Reuters recalls. “Our position is clear and transparent: We have always been categorically against and now we are also against the deployment of nuclear weapons in space,” assured the Russian president.

The 1967 Outer Space Treaty prohibits its signatories, which include Russia and the United States, from placing “in Earth orbit objects carrying nuclear weapons or other types of weapons of mass destruction.”

Russia is planning to deploy a nuclear space bomb whose electromagnetic radiation, if detonated, would disable vast networks of satellites, according to three Reuters sources familiar with the findings of US intelligence studies. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Moscow has not yet deployed such a weapon.

Governments increasingly view Earth-orbiting satellites as key objects that enable the use of Earth’s range of military capabilities. The use of space communications and satellite-linked drones in the war in Ukraine serve as recent examples of the extraordinary role of space in modern warfare, the agency stressed.