Russia on Wednesday vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution that would have reaffirmed a nearly 50-year-old ban on placing weapons of mass destruction in orbit, two months after it was reported that Russia was planning to do just that.
It was no surprise that Russia voted against the resolution. As one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, Russia has veto power over all resolutions submitted to the body. China abstained from the vote and 13 other Security Council members voted in favor of the resolution.
If passed, the resolution would have reaffirmed a binding commitment in Article IV of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which states that nations “shall not place in orbit around the Earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or other types of weapons of mass destruction.” “
Nuclear power
Russia is one of 115 parties to the Outer Space Treaty. Wednesday’s Security Council vote follows reports in February that Russia was developing a nuclear anti-satellite weapon.
“The United States believes that Russia is developing a new satellite that will carry a nuclear bomb,” said Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser. “We have heard President Putin say publicly that Russia has no intention of placing nuclear weapons in space. If that were the case, Russia would not have vetoed this resolution.”
The United States and Japan proposed the joint resolution, which also called on nations not to develop nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction intended to be placed into orbit around the Earth. In a statement, US and Japanese diplomats stressed the danger of a nuclear detonation in space. Such an event would have “serious impacts on sustainable development and other aspects of international peace and security,” U.S. officials said in a news release.
By abstaining, “China has shown that it would rather defend Russia as its junior partner than protect the global nonproliferation regime,” said Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations.
U.S. government officials did not provide details about the exact nature of the anti-satellite weapon allegedly developed by Russia. A nuclear explosion in orbit would destroy numerous satellites – from many countries – and endanger astronauts. Space debris created by a nuclear detonation could clog the orbital transportation routes needed for future spacecraft.
The Soviet Union launched more than 30 military satellites powered by nuclear reactors. Russia’s military space program stagnated in the first decades after the fall of the Soviet Union, and U.S. intelligence officials say it still lags behind the capabilities of the U.S. Space Force and the Chinese military.
Russia’s military money has largely gone to the war in Ukraine over the past two years, but Putin and other senior Russian officials have threatened their opponents with nuclear weapons and attacks on space facilities. The Russian military launched a cyberattack on a commercial satellite communications network when it invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Russia has long had an interest in anti-satellite weapons (ASAT). The Soviet Union experimented with “co-orbital” ASATs in the 1960s and 1970s. In use, these co-orbital ASATs would have attacked enemy satellites by approaching them and detonating explosives or using a grappling arm to deorbit the target.
In 1987, the Soviet Union launched an experimental weapons platform into orbit to test laser technologies that could be used against enemy satellites. Russia shot down one of its own satellites in a widely condemned “direct ascent” ASAT test in 2021. This Russian ASAT direct ascent test followed demonstrations of similar capabilities by China, the United States and India. The Russian military has also demonstrated satellites over the last decade that could latch on to an enemy spacecraft in orbit or fire a projectile to take out an enemy satellite.