MOSCOW, February 16. /TASS/. The civilian infrastructure in space that the US and its allies are using during the conflict in Ukraine may become a legitimate target for a retaliatory strike, Deputy Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department for Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Konstantin Vorontsov said on Thursday.
"At the relevant international platforms, we keep drawing special attention to the extremely dangerous trend going beyond the harmless use of space technology, which has become clear in the course of events in Ukraine. It is about the US and its allies using components of civilian infrastructure in space, including commercial infrastructure, for military purposes," he pointed out at a roundtable on the militarization of space, hosted by Russia’s Federation Council (the upper house of parliament).
"We point out that such activities actually mean indirect participation in armed conflicts. We explain that this kind of quasi-civilian space infrastructure may become a legitimate target for a retaliatory strike," Vorontsov stressed.
The diplomat noted that such "a provocative use of civilian satellites raises questions, to say the least, with regard to the Outer Space Treaty, which provides exclusively for the peaceful use of space."