According to Gennady Gatilov, many proposals are aimed at distracting attentionGENEVA, January 24.
/tass/. The security measures proposed by Western countries in outer space are ineffective and are aimed at distracting the attention of the world community from solving the problem of keeping outer space free from military confrontation. This was stated on Tuesday in Geneva at the annual session of the Conference on Disarmament by the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the Geneva headquarters of the UN Gennady Gatilov.
"We believe that the ineffective measures proposed by Western countries in the field of strengthening security in outer space, whether they are some subjective and obscure "rules of responsible behavior" or an untested moratorium on testing certain types of anti-satellite weapons, are aimed solely at distracting the attention of the international community from solving the main task - preserving outer space as a general security zone free from any military confrontation," the head of the Russian diplomatic mission stated.
As Gatilov noted, Moscow proceeds from the fact that the only truly effective way to protect humanity from threats in space and from outer space is "the conclusion of a legally binding agreement with the participation of all cosmically significant states, providing for a ban on the withdrawal and deployment of weapons in outer space and the use of force or threat of force against space objects." Such an agreement "would be based on the fundamental Outer Space Treaty of 1967, develop its provisions concerning the prevention of an arms race in outer space, and compensate for the gaps in current international space law regarding the unfair and irresponsible use of outer space."
The diplomat recalled in this regard that back in 2008, Russia and China proposed a draft treaty on the prevention of the deployment of weapons in outer space (PPWT), and in 2014 "it was updated taking into account the considerations of other delegations." "We hope that the opponents of our approach and the PPWT project will have an understanding of the priority and imperative of adopting legally binding guarantees for the preservation of space for use and research exclusively for peaceful purposes," Gatilov said. Russia is convinced that the work of the Group of Governmental Experts on Further Measures in the Field of Preventing an Arms Race in Outer Space, established in accordance with a resolution of the UN General Assembly, will contribute to solving the problems of preventing an arms race in outer space, the first session of which is scheduled for November 2022.
