Not surprisingly, Russia this week vetoed a draft resolution that would prevent the deployment of nuclear weapons in orbit. Russia’s rejection of the UN resolution is not a clear indication that the country has an orbital arsenal that could destroy satellite constellations, but it shows that the country is not giving in under US pressure to abandon the development of its anti-satellite weapons.
Russia was the only country to vote against the UN Security Council resolution supported by the USA and Japan. Thirteen other Security Council members voted in favor of the resolution, while China abstained, Reuters reported reported. As a permanent member of the Security Council, Russia’s veto prevented the resolution from being adopted.
The resolution would have called for banning the use of nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in space. The draft is in line with the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, signed by the United States and Russia, which prevents the placement of nuclear weapons in space or on celestial bodies. In the draft resolution, the United States and Japan called on countries to “actively contribute to the goal of the peaceful use of outer space and the prevention of an arms race in outer space.”
In response to Russia’s rejection of the UN resolution, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan issued a statement opinion It says: “As we have already stated, the United States believes that Russia is developing a new satellite that will carry a nuclear bomb.” We have heard President Putin publicly say that Russia has no intention of deploying nuclear weapons in space station. If that were the case, Russia would not have vetoed this resolution.”
In February, the White House confirmed intelligence information Reports This suggests that Russia is developing nuclear anti-satellite weapons. Russia has denied the allegations, but has dabbled in anti-satellite weapons in the past (as has the US). In November 2021, Russia destroyed a defunct Soviet-era satellite in low Earth orbit as part of an anti-satellite test, producing thousands of pieces of debris. The newly introduced space debris forced astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station Seek protection when fragments from the exploded satellite threatened the orbital laboratory.
In response to this, the… The US has issued a self-imposed ban to the ASAT tests in April 2022 and then encouraged other nations to follow suit. In December 2022, 155 countries voted for a UN resolution against anti-satellite tests, while nine voted against, including Russia, China, Cuba, Syria and Iran.
In its opposition to the recent UN resolution, Russia claimed that the US and Japan had not gone far enough to ban all weapons in space. To that end, Russia and China have introduced an amendment to the resolution that would ban “any weapons in space” and threats “or the use of force against objects in space,” it said Reuters.
The amendment was defeated but received support from seven members of the Security Council. “Without our amendment, based on the General Assembly resolution adopted in December 2023, the text presented by the US will be unbalanced, harmful and politicized,” Russian Deputy Ambassador to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy was quoted as saying in Reuters.
Russia and China have been calling for a ban on all weapons in space for years and proposed their own resolution in 2008. Other countries, including the United States, rejected the proposal, primarily because it does not contain provisions for ground-based anti-satellite defense missiles.
Although the resolution was not adopted, it solidified existing space alliances. The US is clearly strengthening its ties with Japan in space and recently announced that the Artemis program will do so Land a Japanese astronaut on the moon. Russia and China, on the other hand, are also allied with their own plans to land on the moon.
China is advancing its lunar program with the aim of competing with NASA’s Artemis program, including plans for a permanent base on the lunar surface. The International Lunar Research Station lunar base was announced in 2021 as a joint project between China and Russia, and other countries such as the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan later joined the project. Russia’s own space program is falling behind, and the country is not contributing much to its alliance with China. The Russian mission to the moon Luna-25 crashed on the lunar surface in August 2023while China’s series of lunar missions was very successful.
Certainly lines have been drawn in the orbital sands, but whether this would lead to all-out space warfare remains to be determined.
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