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Russia favors legally binding document for preventing arms race in space — diplomat

Belarus, China, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Nicaragua, Syrian Arab Republic, Venezuela, Russian Federation consider the suggestion to undertake political commitment not to conduct destructive direct-ascent anti-satellite missile tests, Konstantin Vorontsov said

UNITED NATIONS, October 26. /TASS/. A group of nations, including Russia, favors developing a legally binding document designed to prevent an arms race in space, according to a joint statement read out by a senior Russian diplomat.

The document was read out by Konstantin Vorontsov, a deputy director at the Russian Foreign Ministry’s non-proliferation and arms control department, during a UN General Assembly First Committee meeting Tuesday.

"Belarus, China, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Nicaragua, Syrian Arab Republic, Venezuela, Russian Federation consider the suggestion to undertake political commitment not to conduct destructive direct-ascent anti-satellite missile (ASAT) tests to be a step in the right direction, although insufficient to guarantee of exclusively peaceful activities in outer space and address the tasks of preventing an arms race in outer space (PAROS) provided for by the UN GA First Special Session on Disarmament in 1978," the document says.

Therefore, those nations urge to launch negotiations aimed at drafting a comprehensive legally binding agreement that would prevent an arms race in space and provide guarantees for non-deployment of weapons in space and non-use of force against space objects, Vorontsov continued.

"We reaffirm the need to adopt practical measures to launch negotiations on a comprehensive legally binding instrument for the purposes of PAROS that would contain guarantees of no placement of weapons in outer space and not using force or threat of force against space objects," the document says. "We call upon all UN Member States to proceed to elaborating such an instrument as soon as possible in order to preserve outer space as a peaceful environment for the benefit of all mankind.".