MOSCOW, December 7. /TASS/. The Russian Foreign Ministry said it regretted that members of the European Union had abstained from the UN General Assembly vote on two Russian-led resolutions regarding non-deployment of weapons in space.
The documents, headlined ‘No first placement of weapons in outer space’ and ‘Further practical measures for the prevention of an arms race in outer space,’ were passed by the UN General Assembly earlier in the day. The assembly also voted to support another Russian-led document on space, headlined ‘Transparency and confidence-building measures in outer space activities.’
"Once again, we are disappointed by the stance of European Union countries regarding both documents. They were again unable to express their own opinion and preferred to abstain," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The resolution on non-deployment of weapons in space was supported by 128 UN members.
"In fact, our initiative remains the only practical international instrument in force to prevent the arms race in outer space," the ministry said, adding that the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Hungary and France voted against it.
"It turns out that under pressure from the United States, those countries disregarded their own national priorities and expressed passive consent with the possible implementation of Washington’s earlier plans to deploy weapons in space," the statement reads.
"Another alarming signal was Washington’s decision to end consensus on the joint resolution about transparency and confidence-building measures in outer space, the consensus that used to be preserved and cherished in past years. We attribute the u-turn in Washington’s stance on this document, which changed from the ultimate form of support (co-authorship) to total rejection as a yet another clear illustration of its plans to dismantle the modern arms control and non-proliferation system and to firmly resist any positive development in this direction," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.