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US creating pretexts for militarization of space — Russian General Staff

Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov said that the Pentagon repeatedly stated that the US "intends to use space for their military purposes"

Russia's First Deputy Defense Minister and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov Alexei Yereshko/Russian Defence Ministry Press Office/TASS

Russia's First Deputy Defense Minister and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov

© Alexei Yereshko/Russian Defence Ministry Press Office/TASS

MOSCOW, March 2. /TASS/. The United States is creating pretexts for militarizing space, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces and First Deputy Defense Minister Army General Valery Gerasimov told a conference on military strategy on Saturday.

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Gerasimov said Washington continues its course on expanding military presence in close proximity to Russian borders and on destroying the system of treaty relations on issues of arms reduction, which has a negative effect on strategic stability.

"In 2002 the US unilaterally withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. Their next step after demonstratively suspending their participation in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty could be the withdrawal from the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty," he noted.

"The Pentagon has lately stated repeatedly that they intend to use space for their military purposes. For this, a new type of forces is formed - space forces, which creates a pretext for militarizing space," Gerasimov stressed.

In the end "all these actions may lead to an escalation of the military-political situation and emergence of new threats, to which Russia will have to respond with reciprocal and asymmetrical measures," he added.

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