MOSCOW, April 11. /TASS/. Moscow and Washington have agreed to establish a working group to discuss space issues, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in an interview with the Kommersant daily.
"The Russian side has handed in its proposals on the essence of this work to the US side and now expects the response," he said.
Earlier, Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Non-Proliferation Christopher Ford, who Ryabkov held a meeting with this January, announced such an agreement.
On April 6, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in support of the exploitation of off-Earth resources. Under the order, the United States doesn’t consider outer space as "global commons" and thus sees no need for further international agreements on that matter, such as the Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, known as the Moon Treaty, that was adopted by a United Nations General Assembly resolution in December 1979.
Under the agreement, the Moon and its natural resources are the common heritage of mankind and exploitation of such resources should be done exclusively for peaceful purposes and in the interests of all nations, regardless of their economic or scientific development.