Russia vetoes UN vote on stopping space arms race

Russia has vetoed a solution astatine the UN Security Council calling connected each countries to forestall an arms contention successful outer space.

The draught resolution, enactment guardant by the US and Japan, sought to reaffirm a rule already acceptable retired successful the 1967 Outer Space Treaty.

The US has warned that Russia is believed to beryllium processing a space-based, anti-satellite atomic weapon.

Russia said it was "firmly committed" to the existing treaty.

The draft, enactment guardant connected Wednesday, called connected "all States, successful peculiar those with large abstraction capabilities, to lend actively to the nonsubjective of the peaceful usage of outer abstraction and of the prevention of an arms contention successful outer space."

It besides called connected countries to uphold the Outer Space Treaty, nether which each parties agreed "not to spot successful orbit astir the Earth immoderate objects carrying atomic weapons oregon immoderate different kinds of weapons of wide destruction".

Of the council's 15 members, 13 voted successful favour, portion Russia - 1 of 5 imperishable members with a veto - voted against and China abstained.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the UN, called the determination "baffling".

"Russia has vetoed a straightforward solution that affirms a legally binding obligation," she said. "President Putin himself has said publically that Russia has nary volition of deploying atomic weapons successful space.

"So today's veto begs the question, why? Why, if you are pursuing the rules, would you not enactment a solution that reaffirms them? What could you perchance beryllium hiding?"

In February, White House spokesperson John Kirby said Russia was developing a "troubling" caller anti-satellite weapon, though added that the limb was not yet operational.

The limb was space-based and equipped with a atomic limb to people satellites, the BBC's US spouse CBS News reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said successful response that Moscow was "categorically against" the usage of atomic weapons successful space.

More than immoderate of its imaginable planetary adversaries, the US depends connected outer communications for everything from subject operations and surveillance to civilian uses similar GPS systems and fiscal transactions.

On Wednesday, US nationalist information advisor Jake Sullivan reiterated that the US assessed that "Russia is processing a caller outer carrying a atomic device".

Details of the quality down the assertion person not been made public.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: "Russia is firmly committed to its planetary ineligible obligations, including 1967 The Outer Space Treaty."

Russia's envoy to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, described the US-Japanese solution arsenic a "cynical ploy" with "hidden motives".

The UN Security Council is made up of 5 permeant members - the US, UK, France, China, and Russia - each of which has a veto, and 10 seats that rotate betwixt the different UN subordinate states.