The United States began to wonder if Moscow was concealing anything when Russia vetoed a resolution that the United States had crafted for the United Nations Security Council that urged nations to avoid an arms race in space.
The vote followed Washington’s accusation—which Russia has refuted—that Moscow is working on a nuclear weapon intended to counter satellites. Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, declared that his country opposed the launch of nuclear weapons into space.
“The veto of today raises the question, Why? Why would you oppose a resolution that restates the rules if you are abiding by them? What might you be concealing?” Following the vote, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield addressed the council. “It’s baffling and it’s a shame.”
Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, declared that his country will soon start talks with other council members on a draft resolution it had created to preserve peace in space and accused Washington of attempting to discredit Moscow. “We want a ban on the placement of weapons of any kind in outer space, not just (weapons of mass destruction). But you don’t want that … Let me ask you that very same question: Why?” Nebenzia asked Thomas-Greenfield in the council.
Following nearly six weeks of negotiations, the United States and Japan pushed the draft resolution to a vote. 13 people voted in favor of it, China abstained, and Russia vetoed it.
Asserting that states had an obligation to abide by the Outer Space Treaty, the UN resolution also urged states “to contribute actively to the objective of the peaceful use of outer space and of the prevention of an arms race in outer space.”
Russia and the United States are among the nations that have signed the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which prohibits them from putting “in orbit around the Earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction.”
