MOSCOW, September 13. /TASS/. Moscow has been calling for the launch of talks on developing an international tool which would prohibit the deployment of any kind of armaments in space, according to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov’s welcoming address to the auidence of the international "Gagarin" conference as read out by Alexander Deineko, Deputy Director of the Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday.
"The most important task on a global scale is the prevention of an arms race in space. We are calling for talks to be launched on hammering out an international legally binding instrument that would prohibit the deployment of any types of armaments in space as well as the use of force or the threats of force with regards to space objects," he noted. "There is already a good foundation for this, the corresponding Russian-Chinese draft treaty submitted for consideration to the Geneva Disarmament Conference," the diplomat added.
The senior diplomat emphasized that until such a multilateral document is put together, "the initiative put forth by Russia which became an international initiative for the countries taking on a political commitment not to be the first ones to deploy armaments in space should serve to stabilize the situation." "Three dozen countries have already become its full-fledged participants and their number is continuously growing," he added.
The senior diplomat noted that Moscow supports constructive and equitable cooperation in the sphere of space. "Russia consistently supports the preservation of constructive interaction in the sphere of space in key areas of the unifying international agenda. At the UN committee on space, Russia is pursuing a line to ensure equal access of countries to space and its preservation for future generations," he pointed out.